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AUTHOR   OF    "THE    ARTIST-BIOGRAPHIES,"    OSGOOD'S    "NEW    ENGLAND,"    "WHITI 
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<©frer  Cfoa  f&unfcreti  Original  Elustrattons 


"  I7^>5-     Jl'ly  24-     I  went  a-frolicking  on  the  water." 

Diary  of  Col.  Samuel  Pierce,  Dorchester. 

"  Every  sunrise  in  New  England  is  more  full  of  wonder  than  the  Pyramids, 
every  sunset  more  magnificent  than  the  Trajzsfiguration.     Why  go  to  see  the  Bay  of 
Naples  when  we  have  not  yet  seen  Boston  Harbor  ?  " 

James  Freeman  Clarke. 


CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 
MOSES     KING,    PUBLISHER 

HARVARD   SQUARE 

BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HTTX    MASS 


Copyright,  1882,  by  Moses  King. 


Illustrations  bg 

CHARLES  COPELAND,  A.  B.  SHUTE,  EDMUND  H.  GARRETT, 

FRANK  MYRICK,  I.   F.  EATON, 

AND   OTHERS. 


Plates  bg  JFranJtlt'rt  Press: 

THE    PHOTO-ENGRAVING    CO.,  RAND,    AVERY,   AND   COMPANY, 

67  Park  Place,  New  York.  117  Franklin  St.,  Boston. 


Jhtocx  to  Illustrations* 


JFull=page  JHlustrattong. 

Page 

Boston  Light 217 

Boston  Yacht-Club  House,  City  Point 109 

Illustrated  Title-page 

Jerusalem  Road,  Views  on  the „ 71 

Map  of  the  Harbor 27 

Nantasket  Beach,  from  Atlantic  Hill            59 

Nantasket,  Hotel          .    ' 57 

Navy  Yard 251 

Nut  Island 191 

Oregon  House 30B 

1  Panoramic  Views  of  the  Harbor 25 

Pemberton,  Hotel 30A 

Quincy,  Views  in 93 

Winthrop's  Fleet,  Arrival  of  Gov Frontispiece 

Winthrop,  Views  in 127 


Smaller  Mustrattons. 


page 

Adams  Academy 93 

Adams,  Birthplace  of  President 93 

Ancient  Colonial  House,  Hingham    ....  83 

Ancient  North  Battery 22 

Andrew  House,  Hingham 83 

Arbor  in  Melville  Garden 73 

At  Ease,  Snug  Harbor 100 

Atlantic  Hill,  View  from 239 

Atlantic  Hill,  Distant  View 245 

Atlantic  House 58 

Atlantic  House,  from  the  Hills 58 

Bather,  The 182 

Bath-houses  near  Hull  Pier 29 

Bathing-car 69 

Battery,  Long-Island  Head      .     .     .     .     .     .  164 

Battery  Wharf 260 

Beach  Scene,  Nantasket 72 

Bear-pit,  Melville  Garden 79 

Bell  Buoy,  Harding's  Ledge 250 

Birthplace  of  the  Presidents 93 

Bits  from  Life-saving  Station 48 

Boat-house  at  Sunnyside 127 

Boston,  from  Winthrop  Head 121 

Boston  Light 217 

Boston  Light,  from  Point  Allerton    ....     52 


page 

Brass  Mortar 72 

Bug  Light 207,  228 

Calf  Island 226 

Cambridge,  Steamer 265 

Cannons,  Nut  Island 191 

Capt.  James's  Landing,  Hull 31 

Carpenter's  Shop,  Snug  Harbor 89 

Casemate  Battery,  Fort  Independence  .     .     .  135 

Castle  William 143 

Cliffs  on  Outer  Brewster 227 

Coaling-Station  on  Nantasket  Railroad      .     .  241 
Constitzition,  United-States  Frigate     .     .     .  205 

Convicts  at  Work 197 

Crescent  Beach .     61 

Deane  Winthrop  House,  Winthrop  .     .     .     .117 

Deer  Island  Ferry  Horn 200 

Deer  Island,  Scene  at 199 

Eagle 105 

East  Boston Illustrated  Titlepage 

Empire  State 258 

Excursion  Steamer  of  1818 105 

Ferry  at  Germantown 94 

Ferry  at  Point  Shirley,  Calling 200 

IS 


i6 


INDEX    TO   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Fire-Department  Steamer 235 

Fisherman's  Home,  Point  Shirley      .     .     .     .115 
Flounders,  Spearing,  Calf  Island      ....  225 

Fort  Independence,  Main  Gate 131 

Fort  Independence,  South  Front       ....  13s 

Fort  Warren,  from  the  Channel 203 

Fort  Winthrop,  from  Governor's  Island     .     .  149 

Foster's  Wharf 266 

Frigate's  Deck 251 

Germantown 87 

Going  out,  Lobsterman 171 

Going  to  the  Rescue 49 

Granite-Quarries 93 

Great  Head,  Winthrop 119 

Gun  from  the  Kadosh 53 

Gun,  Old  Signal 217 

Gun-Park  at  Navy  Yard 251 

Harbor-Mouth  Rocks 256 

Hauling  in  Lobster-pots       . 171 

House  of  Industry,  Deer  Island 195 

Hulk  of  the  Passport,  Little  Hog  Island       .  51 

Burying-ground  and  Point  Allerton,  Hull      .  41 

Hull  Skipper,  A 46 

Hull  Yacht-Club  House 45 

Hunt  House,  The  Old,  Hull 37 

Hut  on  Stony  Beach 53 

Indian  Canoe 21 

Inner  Harbor Illustrated  Title-page 

Inspection  by  Port-Physician 173 

Jerusalem  Road,  View  from 237 

Katahdin,  Steamer 264 

Life-Boat,  Stony  Beach 49 

Light-House 217,  Illustrated  Title 

Lincoln's  Wharf 263 

Little  Hill 50 

Little  Hog  Island 51 

Lively  Sea 198 

Lobster-House,  Old,  Winthrop 127 

Lobsterman 171,  249 

Lobsterman's  Cabin,  Point  Shirley   ....  125 
Lobsterman's  Headquarters,  Nut  Island   .     .  191 

Long-Island  Head 163 

Long-Island  House 156 

Long-Island  Light-House 163 

Lovell  House,  The  Old,  Hull 35 

Lovell's  Island,  from  Gallop's  Island     .     .     .  177 

Magazine,  Nut  Island 191 

Melville  Garden,  from  Ragged  Island  ...     75 

M'Glenen,  H.  A 259 

Middle  Brewster 228 

Minot's  Light 65 

Moat  of  French  Fort,  Hull 39 

Nantasket  Beach,  from  Atlantic  Hill     ...  59 

Nantasket,  Hotel 57 

Nantasket,  Scene  near 244 

Nantasket,  Wreck  on 63 

Navy  Yard 251 

New  Pacjfic  Hotel 67 

"5=itixi«r>&ate 175 

Nix  s  Mate  in  1700 174 

Norsemen's  Galley 54 

Nut  Island 191 


PAGE 

Ocean  Spray 118 

Old  Cemetery,  Hingham 84 

Old  Hulks 251 

Old  Sailor  at  rest 91 

Outer  Brewster 219 

Outer  Brewster,  Rocks  on 159 

Pavilion  on  Ragged  Island 80 

Peace  and  War,  Nut  Island 189 

Peddock's  Island 187 

Peddock's  Island,  Pilot's  House 185 

Peddock's  Island,  View  from 243 

Penobscot,  Steamer 262 

Pews  in  Hingham  Church 81 

Phillips,  Capt.  J.  M 257 

Phillips,  Mr.  E.  Burt 259 

Photographer's  Car 69 

Point  Allerton,  Little  Hill 50 

Point  Allerton,  View  from 52 

Point  Shirley  House,  Taft's 126 

Point  Shirley,  Old  Mansion 123 

Point  Shirley,  View  from 247 

Police-Boat 234 

Port  Physician  Boarding  a  Ship 173 

Port  Physician  going  out 178 

Portuguese  Village,  Long  Island 167 

Profile,  Squantum 96 

Pulpit,  Hingham  Church 81 

Quarries,  Granite,  Quincy 93 

Quincy  Bay,  from  Long  Island 167 

Ragged  Island,  Melville  Garden  ....    74,  77 

Rainsford  Island 181 

Rockland  Cafe,  Nantasket  Beach     ....     57 
Rope-reel,  Humane  Society 168 

Sailors'  Snug  Harbor,  Germantown  ....  87 

Sally  Jones's  House,  Hull 33 

Scene  on  Ragged  Island 77 

Schwartz,  Sergeant 152 

Sentinel 214 

Signal  Station,  Hull 39 

Skipper  Wm.  James,  Hull 32 

Smith,  Capt.  John no 

South  Face  of  Fort  Independence     ....  135 

Squantum,  The  Profile 96 

Standish,  Capt.  Miles 98 

Statue  of  Gov.  Andrew,  Hingham    ....  82 

Stony  Beach,  Hull 53 

Storm  at  Minot's  Ledge 65 

Sunnyside 127 

Sunshade 28 

Taft,  Portrait  of 126 

Telegraph  Hill,  Hull 39 

Tewksbury  House,  Point  Shirley      ....  231 
Thompson's  Island,  from  South  Boston     .     .  155 

Unitarian  Church,  Hingham 81 

U.  S.  Revenue  Cutter 209 

Whistling  Buoy,  at  the  Graves 221 

White  Star  Steamship 268 

Winthrop  Beach  and  Fort  Winthrop      .     .     .  127 

Winthrop,  Gov.  John 233 

Winthrop  Great  Head,  View  from     ....  121 

Winthrop's  Fleet,  Gov Frontispiece 

Wreck  of  the  Grace  Lothrop 157 

Wreck  on  the  Beach 24 


Intiex  to  Erxt. 


Acadians,  141,  236. 

Accord  Pond,  7S. 

Adams,  C.  I'\,  92,  95,  99,  202. 

Adams,  John,  91,  165. 

Adams,  John  Q.,  92. 

Adams,  Mrs.,  237. 

Alabama,  204,  207. 

Albemarle,  241. 

Allerton,  Point,  47,  50. 

Allston,  W.,  247. 

Almshouse,  182. 

"  America,"  36;  America,  171. 

Amherst,  Sir  J.,  236. 

Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Co.,  203,  211. 

Andrew,*Gov.,  76,  145,  203. 

Andros,  Sir  E.,  138,  164,  185,  195. 

Antwerp,  26S. 

Apple  Island,  159. 

Arabella,  238. 

Atlantic  House,  60. 

Atlantic  Hill,  61. 

Attack  on  Fort  Warren,  210. 

Auks,  1S4. 

Austin,  Gen.,  222. 

Back  Way,  163. 

Bainbridge,  166. 

Baltimoreans,  205. 

Baptists,  in. 

Barre,  Col.,  218. 

Barron,  Admiral,  207. 

Bartlett,  C.  L.  it  Co.,  116,  267. 

Bartlett,  Gen.  W.  F.,  116. 

Bathing,  68. 

Batteries,  French,  210. 

Beachy  Point,  172. 

Beacon  Island,  216. 

Bears,  158. 

Beecher,  H.  W.,  131,  231. 

Bellamy,  Capt.,  175. 

Bell-Buoy,  225. 

Bellomont,  Lord,  252. 

Bells,  Convent,  135,  177. 

Bennett  quoted,  235. 

Bernadotte,  240. 

Berthier,  Marshal,  240. 

Best,  Lieut. -Col..  129,  210. 

Bethell,  176. 

Bird  Island,  23,  151,  176,  177. 

Black  Jack,  160. 

Black  Rock,  62. 

Blessing  of  the  Bay,  174,  232. 

Blockade-running,  238,  253. 

Blue  Hills,  94,  106. 

Boarding-house  Runners,  219. 

Boston  and  Bangor  Steamship  Company,  261. 

Boston  Marine  Society,  178. 

Bougainville,  45. 

Bourbonnais  Regiment,  240. 

Bradley  Fertilizer  Company,  81. 

Brain  tree,  202. 

Breed's  Island,  114. 

Brewsters,  215. 

Britannia,  244. 

British  Regiments,  141. 

Broad  Sound,  27,  170. 

Brown,  George  L.,  247. 


Brown,  James,  179. 

Bubbles,  190. 

Buckner,  Gen.,  206. 

Bug  Light,  216. 

Bumpkin  Island,  192. 

Bunker  Hill,  229. 

Buoys,  170. 

Burning  ships,  160. 

Burroughs,  Stephen,  143. 

Cabot,  Major  S.,  208,  210. 

Calf  Island,  225. 

Canoes,  232. 

Canton  Packet,  244. 

Casemate  dungeons,  206. 

Castle  Island,  129. 

Castle  William,  138. 

Cattle,  254. 

Centre  Hill,  61. 

Cesar,  39,  202. 

Champlain,  230. 

Chapel,  Musquantum,  99. 

Charles  I.,  194. 

Chesapeake,  46,  255. 

Chevalier  quoted,  186. 

Cheviot  Hills,  94,  106. 

Chickataubut,  97. 

Children  at  Deer  Island,  198. 

Christian  Indians,  195. 

City  Point,  23,  108. 

Clams,  70,  75,  187,  232. 

Clap,  Roger,  136. 

Cleverly,  183. 

Clinton,  Sir  H.,  202. 

Coddington,  Wm.,  90. 

Cohasset,  230. 

Cole,  Foxcroft,  186. 

Columbia,  252. 

Commercial  Point,  102. 

Commerce,  249. 

Conant,  Roger,  42,  147. 

Concentrated  United  States,  212. 

Confederates,  205. 

Constitution,  125,  166,  242. 

Continentals,  218. 

Copley,  247. 

Cottage  Park,  118. 

Cottages,  68. 

Cotton,  254. 

Cow  Pond,  193. 

Crane,  Thomas,  202. 

Crescent  Beach,  62. 

Cromwell,  Capt.,  177. 

Cromwell's  Slaves,  233. 

Crow  Point,  73. 

Crystal  Bay,  122. 

Cumberland,  250. 

Cunard  Line,  254. 

Cushing  house,  Hull,  34. 

Cushing  House,  Hingham,  76. 

Dana,  R.  H.,  249. 

Davenport,  Capt.,  133,  136. 

David,  Sagamore,  195. 

Dean,  Hon.  B.,  216. 

Dean,  Thomas,  221. 

Deer,  193. 

Deer  Island,  193. 


INDEX   TO    TEXT. 


Defence,  238. 

Demi-lune,  206. 

Demons,  149. 

Derby  Academy,  76. 

De  Ruyter,  136. 

D'Estaing,  Count,  39,  45,  202. 

Deux-Ponts,  Comte  de,  240. 

Devens,  Gen.,  167. 

Dimick,  Col.  Justin,  204,  208,  209. 

Docks,  22,  114. 

Dominie  Brown,  125,  159,  169,  180,  196,  213. 

Dorchester,  43,  101. 

Dorchester  Heights,  107. 

Downer  Landing,  73. 

Draft-riots,  208. 

Duels,  113,  144,  158. 

Dummer,  232. 

Eagle,  79,  246. 

East  Boston,  22,  hi. 

Eastern  Head,  161. 

East  India  Trade,  252. 

Eastward  Neck,  81. 

Egg  Rocks,  222. 

Eliot,  Apostle,  97,  195. 

Elizabeth,  176. 

Emerson,  G.  B.,  116. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  256. 

Empire  State,  246,  257. 

Enterprise,  224. 

Escape  from  Fort  Warren,  208. 

Everett  quoted,  94,  96,  101,  136,  178. 

Excursions,  Ancient,  66,  245. 

Exports,  254. 

Fame's  Revenge,  176. 

Farm  School,  155. 

Fields,  James  T.,  cited,  40. 

Fiftieth  Mass.,  etc.,  173,  245. 

Fishing-trip,  260. 

Fly,  Wm.,  176. 

Fort  Hill,  78,  130. 

Fort  Independence,  31,  129. 

Fort  Point  Channel,  22. 

Fort  Warren,  39,  145,  201. 

Fort  William  and  Mary,  137. 

Fort  Winthrop,  147. 

Fourth  Battalion,  145. 

Fourth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  167. 

Fox  Haven,  230. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  218. 

Freeman,  Capt.,  176. 

Freight-rates,  Ancient,  252. 

French  Cemetery,  40. 

French  Fleet,  39,  180,  202,  238. 

French  Forts,  37,  186,  202. 

French  Hospitals,  113. 

French,  Massacre  of,  183. 

French  Prisoners,  143,  236. 

Frolic,  250. 

Gage's  Soliloquy,  112. 

Galatea,  220. 

Galleys,  165. 

Gallop,  Capt.  John,  172. 

Gallop's  Island,  172. 

Gardiner,  Sir  C,  98,  154. 

Garibaldi,  116. 

Garrison  of  Fort  Warren,  212. 

George,  Capt.  John,  201. 

George's  Island,  201. 

Germantown,  85. 

Ghosts,  208. 

Gibson,  Major  A.  A.,  210. 

Gilman,  Harry,  210. 

Glad  Tidings  Plain,  78. 

Glass-making,  86. 


Godiva,  Lady,  194. 

Golden-rod,  188. 

Gookin  quoted,  196. 

Gorges,  Capt.  Robert,  83. 

Governor's  Island,  147. 

Granite-quarries,  95. 

Grape  Island,  186. 

Graves,  The,  224. 

Graves,  Thomas,  224. 

Great  Brewster,  216,  218. 

Great  Head,  121. 

Great  Hill,  87. 

Greaton,  Major,  196. 

Great  Republic,  113. 

Green  Hill,  62,  121. 

Green  Island,  226. 

Gridley,  Gen.  R.,  149. 

Griffin,  ijz. 

Graver's  Cliff,  117. 

Guerriere,  242. 

Halfmoon  Island,  192. 

Hall,  Basil,  quoted,  219. 

Halsall,  W.  F.,  216,  220,  247. 

Hamilton's  Battery,  210. 

Hancock,  236. 

Hancock,  Gen.  W.  S.,  145,  210. 

Hancock,  Gov.,  92,  123. 

Hancock,  Mrs.,  123,  238. 

Hangman's  Island,  192. 

Hardings,  The,  225. 

Hardy,  Lady,  23. 

Harrison  Square,  103. 

Hartford,  250. 

Harvard,  243. 

Haswell,  Wm.,  35. 

Hawkins,  T.,  104,  175. 

Hawthorne,  69,  90,  156,  249. 

Hayman's  Island,  192. 

Hendrickson,  Gen.,  172. 

Herbert,  George,  232. 

Hersey,  179. 

Highlanders,  166. 

Highland  Light,  259. 

Hingham,  64,  75,  77,  78. 

Hingham  Bay,  31. 

History,  Bits  of,  229. 

Holmes  quoted,  34,  193,  248. 

Hope,  Henry,  92. 

Hough's  Neck,  87,  190. 

Hough's  Tombs,  189. 

House  Beach,  222. 

Hovey's  "  Causerie,"  213. 

Howe,  Earl,  107,  202. 

Howells,  W.  D.,  22,  66,  213,  249. 

Hull,  27,  29,  218. 

Hull  Cemetery,  41. 

Hull  Yacht-Club,  31. 

Hullonians,  33. 

Hunt  House,  35. 

Hutchinson,  Ann,  90,  131. 

Hypocrite  Passage,  226. 

Ice,  244,  254. 

Ice  Pond,  193. 

Immigrants,  254. 

Independence,  166,  250. 

Independence,  Fort,  129. 

Indiamen,  253. 

Iron-clads,  114,  250. 

Isles  of  Shoals,  259. 

James,  Henry,  249. 

James,  Samuel,  224. 

Jerusalem  Road,  62. 

John  and  George,  238. 

"  John  Brown's  Body,"  204. 


INDEX    TO    TEXT. 


19 


Jones's  Hill,  103. 
Kadosh,  52. 

Kidd,  Capl.,  177. 

Kin- Oak  Hill,  83,  84. 

King  Philip's  War,  84. 

Kingslcy,  Charles,  215. 

Krossaness,  53. 

Lady  Arietta,  231. 

Lafayelte,  38,  77,  80,  104,  142. 

Lansil,  247. 

Larcom,  Lucy,  41,  225,  228. 

La  Tour,  50,  in,  119,  132,  148. 

Lee,  236. 

Leverett,  Gov.,  215. 

Liberty  Plain,  7S. 

Life-saving  Station,  47. 

Light-House,  216. 

Light-House  Board,  169. 

Light,  Long-Island,  161. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  80. 

Lincoln",  Benjamin,  38,  56,  76,  80. 

Lincoln  House,  76. 

Little  Brewster,  216. 

Little  Calf  Island,  226. 

Little  Hog  Island,  47. 

Lobsters,  34. 

Longfellow,  83,  99,  140,  248. 

Long,  Gov.,  77. 

Long  Island,  161. 

Loring,  Dr.,  249. 

Lorings,  the,  44. 

Lost-Town,  231. 

Louisburg,  140. 

Louisiana,  207. 

Lovell's  Grove,  80. 

Lovell's  Island,  36,  169,  209. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  176,  248. 

Lowlands,  133. 

Ludlow,  Roger,  104,  131. 

Lyford,  John,  42. 

Madagascar  slaves,  234. 

Magicicnue,  240. 

Magnificent  trip,  The,  257,  258. 

Magnifique,  171. 

Maritana,  223. 

Marshfield,  249. 

Martineau,  Miss,  246. 

Mary,  175. 

Mary  and  John,  43. 

Maryland  legislators,  205. 

Mason  and  Slidell,  ao6. 

Mason,  Capt.  John,  104. 

Massachusetts,  86. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  150. 

Massachusetts  Indians,  91,  96,  101. 

Massacre,  185. 

Massasoit,  52. 

Massie's  Monument,  144. 

Mather,  Cotton,  231,  233. 

Maverick,  S.,  83,  111. 

Maypole  revels,  89. 

M'GIenen,  H.  A.,  259. 

McKay,  Donald,  113. 

Meeting-House  Hill,  103. 

Melville  Garden,  74. 

Merrimac,  250. 

Merrimac  River,  259. 

Merry  Mount,  88,  90,  249. 

Miantonomoli,  252. 

Michelet,  68,  121. 

Middle  Brewster,  220. 

Milford,  237. 

Minot  House,  102. 

Mitchell,  Professor,  254. 


Montague,  Admiral,  249. 

Montague,  Lady,  247. 

Moon  Island,  100,  106. 

Moonlight  trips,  260. 

Moose,  194. 

Morton,  Thomas,  34,  42,  70,  82,  88,  89,  90,  94,97, 

98,  154,  183,  190,  194. 
Motley,  J.  L.,  90,  98,  101,  104,  194,  249. 
Mount  .1  iagon,  89. 
Mount  Desert,  265. 
Mount  Wollaston,  87. 
Mugford's  fight,  124. 
Nancy,  236. 
Nantasket  Beach,  55,  96. 
Nantasket  Beach  Railroad,  28. 
Nantasket,  Hotel,  58. 
Nantasket  House,  36. 
Nantasket  Lake,  61. 
Nantasket  Land  Company,  63. 
Nantasket  Roads,  27. 
Naples,  Bay  of,  229. 
National  Sailors'  Home,  92. 
Navy  Club,  243. 
Navy  Yard,  21. 
Negro  slaves,  234. 
Nelson,  John,  163. 
Nelson,  Lord,  241. 
Neponset,  101. 
Newbern,  245. 
New  Boston,  22. 
Newcomb,  Peter,  172. 
News-Letter,  123,  175,  176. 
Ninth  Regiment,  166. 
Nix's  Mate,  173. 
Noddle's  Island,  in,  230,  249. 
Norsemen,  53. 

North  Atlantic  squadron,  259. 
North  Brewster,  225. 
North  Carolinians,  206. 
Nursery,  198. 
Nut  Island,  87,  189. 
Ocean  of  Sunrise,  197. 
Ocean  Spray,  120. 
Ocean  Thermopylae,  211. 
Ocean  trips,  257. 
Old-Colony  House,  78. 
Old-Colony  Railroad,  72. 
Oldham,  John,  42,  172. 
Old-Harbor  Point,  106. 
Old  Mansion  House,  180. 
Old  Ship,  76. 
Old  Spain,  82. 
Orchards,  Primeval,  147. 
Ordnance,  189. 
Oregon  House,  31. 
O'Reilly,  John  Boyle,  36. 
Otis  Hill,  77. 
Outer  Brewster,  221. 
Palmer,  Gen.,  86. 
Parker,  Col.  F.  J.,  208. 
Pauper  Colony,  182. 
Pecksuot,  83,  184. 
Peddock's  Island,  183. 
Pegram,  Gen.,  207. 
Peggy,  236. 

Pemberton,  Hotel,  27,  30,  183. 
Pemberton,  James,  44,  201. 
Penobscot  expedition,  238. 
Pepperell,  Sir  William,  140. 
Peregrine,  Peter,  66,  229. 
Perry,  Nora,  24,  74. 
Peruvian,  52. 
Peters,  Rev.  Hugh,  233. 
Petition  of  Hull,  44. 


20 


INDEX    TO    TEXT. 


Phillips  Bros.,  258. 

Phipps,  Sir  William,  44,  233. 

Pierce,  Col.,  165,  176. 

Pierce's  Hill,  102. 

Pilgrim  Feasts,  99. 

Pilot-boats,  219. 

Pine-tree  Shilling,  194. 

Pirates,  152,  174. 

Plains  of  Nantasket,  63. 

Pochaska,  Charles,  224. 

Poictiers,  37. 

Point  Allerton,  47. 

Point  Shirley,  122. 

Portuguese  Village,  162. 

Pound,  Tom,  174. 

Prairie  Flower,  170. 

Preble,  Admiral,  204. 

President  Adams,  92. 

President  Roads,  23. 

Pretty  Sally,  238. 

Prince,  John,  43. 

Privateers,  American,  236,  242. 

Privateers,  Rebel,  208. 

Provincetown,  259. 

Pulling  Point,  121,  122. 

Pumpkin  Island,  192. 

Quarantine,  173,  179. 

Queen  Anne  Corner,  78. 

Quelch,  John,  175. 

Quincy,  72,  85,  94. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  92. 

Raccoon  Island,  192. 

Rainsford  Island,  179. 

Read,  T.  B.,  32,  220. 

Rebel  Prisoners,  205. 

Red-Star  Line,  268. 

Ringbolt  Rock,  78. 

Riverside,  78. 

Rockland  House,  56. 

Romer,  Col.,  138. 

Rose  btandish  House,  74. 

Route  of  Steamboats,  21. 

Rowson,  Susannah,  36. 

Russ's  Villa,  Mr.,  220. 

Sagamore  Hill,  62. 

Sagittaire,  240. 

Sail  down  the  Harbor,  21. 

Sailors'  Snug  Harbor,  85. 

St.  George's  Cross,  131,  134. 

Saints  of  the  Bay,  229. 

Savin  Hill,  103. 

Schwartz,  Sergeant,  151,  152. 

Sculpins,  34. 

Sea-captains,  Old,  176. 

Sea-Fencibles,  no,  150. 

Sea-Foam  House,  64. 

Seals,  34. 

Seashore  Home  for  Children,  121. 

Sewall,  114,  117,  131,  137.  x39>  20I>  245- 

Sewer,  96,  106. 

Shag  Rocks,  222. 

Sheep  Island,  192. 

Shipbuilding,  86,  113. 

Shirley  Gut,  124,  193. 

Signal-station,  Hull,  38. 

Skull  Head,  63. 

Slate  Island,  188. 

Slaveholding,  in,  119,  234. 

Small-pox  Hospital,  124,  141,  179,  181. 

Smith,  Capt.  John,  35,  42,  94,  104,  186,  230. 

Smith,  Rev.  S.  F.,  36. 

Soldiers,  Hull,  37. 

South  Boston,  22,  23,  107,  142. 

Southey,  Robert,  256. 


Spectacle  Island,  156. 
Squantum,  96. 

Standish,  Miles,  83,  89,  97,  153. 
Stark,  Gen.,  112. 
State  of  Maine,  205. 
Steamboats,  Old-time,  80. 
Stedman,  E.  C,  215. 
Stephens,  A.  H.,  210. 
Stoddard,  R.  H.,  79. 
Stone  Temple,  92. 
Stony  Beach,  47. 
Stoughton  quoted,  232. 
Strait's  Pond,  61. 
Strawberry  Hill,  62. 
Summer  comfort,  21. 
Sunnyside,  118. 

Sweet  Singer  of  the  Harbor,  125,  159,  169. 
Taft's  Hotel,  126. 
Talleyrand-Perigord,  241. 
Telegraph  Hill,  Hull,  37,  44. 
Temple,  1.63,  194. 
Tennesseeans,  206. 
Thayer,  Gen.  S.,  202. 
Third  Massachusetts  Regiment,  167. 
Thirty-second  Massachusetts  Regiment,  206,  5.08. 
Thirty-eighth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  172. 
Thompson's  Island,  153. 
Thoreau,  41,  47,  48,  56,  213. 
Thorn-apples,  41. 
Thorwald's  Death,  53. 
Tilghman,  Gen.,  206. 
Tisquanto,  96,  97. 
Train's  Packets,  254. 
Trecothick,  Barlow,  164. 
Trumbull,  Col.,  142. 
Tudor,  46,  112. 
Tupper,  Major,  218. 
Turks,  133,  233. 
Vane,  Harry,  90,  132,  194. 
Veazie,  Samuel,  35. 
Veteran  Officers,  144. 
Wabash,  252. 
IVacluisett,  250. 
Walker,  Sir  H.,  201,  235. 
Ward  &  Co.,  N.,  158. 
Ward's  Island,  192. 
Warner,  Charles  Dudley,  213,  215. 
Warren,  Fort,  39,  145. 
Warren  Line,  254. 
Webster,  Daniel,  56,  65,  77,  249. 
Webster  Regiment,  203. 
Weir  River,  67,  69,  78. 
Western  Way,  163,  179. 
Weston's  Colony,  83. 
Weymouth,  80.  ^ 

Weymouth  River,  82. 
Whaling,  86,  102. 
W hid  ah,  175. 
Whistling  Buoy,  224. 
White-Star  Line,  268. 
Whittier,  John  G.,  116,  195,  248. 
Wiard,  Norman,  190. 
Winter  at  Nantasket,  70. 
Winthrop,  115. 
Winthrop,  Deane,  117. 
Winthrop,  Fort,  147. 

Winthrop,  Gov;,  43,  97,  130,  147,  177,  179,  231. 
Winthrop,  R.  C,  194. 
Wollaston  Heights,  94. 
Wollaston's  Colony,  87. 
Wood  quoted,  122,  232. 
World's  End,  77. 
Worrick's,  56. 
1    Worthylake,  George,  218. 


€ty  Sail  ©oton  tfje  f&arfoor. 


HE  perfection  of  physical  comfort  is  enjoyed,  when,  on 
a  warm  day  of  summer,  one  leaves  the  hot  and  crowded 
streets  and  many  cares  of  the  city,  and  passes  down 
Boston  Harbor  on  one  of  its  luxurious  excursion-steam- 
boats. Here,  without  the  distressing  motion  of  the  deep- 
sea  swells,  or  the  blank  monotony  of  a  level  horizon,  the  bracing  and 
invigorating  air  of  the  ocean  is  enjoyed  to  the  fullest:  while  on  either 
side  are  scores  of  picturesque  and  historic  localities  to  attract  the  attention 
and  give  high  zest  to  the  journey.  And  if  this  delicious  iodated  atmos- 
phere, smelling  of  sea-weed  and  surf-beaten  rocks,  arouses  a  formidable 
hunger,  there  is  every  variety  of  means  for  gratifying  that  also,  from  the 
improvident  pop-corn  which  is  sold  on  the  deck,  and  the  frugal  but  appe- 
tizing chowders  of  the  beach-restaurants,  to  the  rich  and  varied  menus  of 
the  great  hotels  at  Hull  and  Nantasket.  It  is  safe  enough  to  say,  that 
no  other  Atlantic  city  excels  Boston  in  summer  comfort.  Its  clean,  well- 
swept,  and  sprinkled  streets  are  frequently  visited  by  delightful  sea-breezes, 
whose  refreshing  coolness  and  salty  savor  are  perceptible  for  a  full  league 
inland.  And  on  a  day  of  unusual  heat  and  sunshine,  all  roads  lead  to  the 
harbor ;  and  the  horse-cars  for  Atlantic  Avenue  are  crowded  with  people 
eager  to  inhale  the  bracing  air  of  the  ocean.  The  fares  on  the  steamboats 
are  so  small  that  even  the  poorest  can  go :  the  accommodations  are  so  luxu- 
rious that  the  veriest  Sybarite  of  the  Back  Bay  need  suffer  no  discomfort. 

The  steamboat  has  hardly  left  its  pier  when  the  interest  of  the  voyage 
begins,  —  the  vast  and  varied  panorama  commences  to  unroll.  On  the 
right  the  narrow  water-lane  of  Fort-Point  Channel  runs  off  to  the  South 
Bay;  on  the  left  is  the  broad  mouth  of  the  combined  Charles  and  Mystic 
rivers,  with  the  picturesque  antiquities  of  the  American  navy  at  the  head 


22 


K/ArG'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


of  its  vista.  The  long  line  of  docks  and  piers,  steamships  and  elevators, 
on  the  north,  is  the  water-front  of  East  Boston,  the  Birkenhead  of  the 
Puritan  city.  (If  you  wish  to  know  more  about  this  point,  or  others  in 
the  harbor,  turn  to  the  Alphabetical  Index,  at  the  beginning  of  the  book.) 
On  the  right  are  the  great  piers  and  docks  of  New  Boston  (often  so-called), 
covered  with  railway  tracks,  freight-houses,  and  elevators,  and  usually  con- 
taining several  British  freight-steamships.  This  broad  and  busy  plain, 
dedicated  to  commerce,  has  been  constructed  within  a  few  years,  on  the 
melancholy  mud-flats,  by  building  high  and  substan-  at:  ©  gravel.  The 
tial  sea-walls,  and  ^^^^^^^-  -,^^fe~Kr^xw7*LlSh<..  veteran  mas- 
ter of  the 
British  steam- 
ship Sorrento 
recently  said  : 
"  During  all 
my  experience 
as  an  officer 
and  command- 
er of  steam- 
ships in  the 
Atlantic  trade, 
have  never  be- 
fore loaded  at  such 
magnificent  docks, 
he  great  depth  of 
at  low  tides,  and 
pacious  sheds  and 
evator.  render  the  most 
"ete  facilities  for  the 
d  discharging"  of  large 

nile  from  the  State  House, 
ually  passes  through  a  fleet 
-beaten  coasters,  and  dainty 
yachts,  anchored  off  Fort-Point  Channel.  Mr.  Howells  has  given  us  this 
beautiful  picture  of  the  inner  harbor  of  Boston:  "A  light  breeze  ruffled  the 
surface  of  the  bay,  and  the  innumerable  little  sail-boats  that  dotted  it  took 
the  sun  and  wind  upon  their  wings,  which  they  dipped  almost  into  the 
sparkle  of  the  water,  and  flew  lightly  hither  and  thither  like  gulls  that  loved 
the  brine  too  well  to  rise  wholly  from  it.  Larger  ships,  farther  or  nearer, 
puffed  or  shrank  their  sails  as  they  came  or  went  on  the  errands  of  com- 
merce, but  always  moved  as  if  bent  upon  some  dreamy  affair  of  pleasure ; 


teamboat 


STING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  23 

the  steamboats  that  shot  vehemently  across  their  tranquil  courses  seemed 
only  gayer  and  vivider  visions,  but  not  more  substantial.  Yonder  a  black 
sea-going  steamer  passed  out  between  the  far-off  islands,  and  at  last  left 
in  the  sky  above  those  reveries  of  fortification,  a  whiff  of  sombre  smoke, 
dark  and  unreal  as  a  memory  of  battle.  .  .  .  There  is  always  a  shabbiness 
about  the  wharves  of  sea-ports ;  but  I  must  own  that  as  soon  as  you  get  a 
reasonable  distance  from  them  in  Boston,  they  turn  wholly  beautiful.  They 
no  longer  present  that  imposing  array  of  mighty  ships  which  they  could 
show  in  the  days  of  Consul  Plancus,  when  the  commerce  of  the  world 
sought  chiefly  our  port,  yet  the  docks  are  still  filled  with  the  modester  kinds 
of  shipping;  and,  if  there  is  not  that  wilderness  of  spars  and  rigging  which 
you  see  at  New  York,  let  us  believe  that  there  is  an  aspect  of  selection 
and  refinement  to  the  scene,  so  that  one  should  describe  it,  not  as  a  forest, 
but,  less  conventionally,  as  a  gentleman's  park  of  masts.  The  steamships 
of  many  coast-lines  gloom,  with  their  black,  capacious  hulks,  among  the 
lighter  sailing-craft,  and  among  the  white,  green-shuttered  passenger-boats ; 
and  behind  them  those  desperate  and  grimy  sheds  assume  a  picturesque- 
ness,  their  sagging  roofs  and  crooked  gables  harmonizing  agreeably  with 
the  shipping;  and  then,  growing  up  from  all  rises  the  mellow-tinted,  brick- 
built  city,  roof,  and  spire,  and  dome,  —  a  fair  and  noble  sight,  indeed, 
and  one  not  surpassed  for  a  certain  quiet  and  cleanly  beauty  by  any  that 
I  know." 

As  the  course  crosses  the  line  of  two  miles  from  the  State  House, 
the  high  hills  of  South  Boston  bound  the  view  on  the  right,  crowned  by 
the  great  building  which  was  erected  in  1834  for  a  summer-resort,  under 
the  name  of  the  Mount-Washington  House,  and  has  been  occupied  for 
more  than  forty  years  by  the  Perkins  School  for  the  Blind.  In  the  nearer 
waters  several  gray  old  hulks  are  moored,  containing  reserve  stocks  of 
powder  and  other  explosives.  Farther  on,  City  Point  appears,  on  the  right, 
with  its  esplanade  and  fleet  of  yachts,  beyond  which  towers  the  large 
asylum  on  Thompson's  Island,  across  Dorchester  Bay.  On  the  left,  observe 
the  spindle,  or  beacon,  rising  from  the  gravelly  shoals  which  mark  the 
site  of  the  ill-omened  Bird  Island,  long  since  washed  away  by  the  tides. 

At  three  miles,  in  a  direct  line  from  the  State  House,  the  steamboat 
passes  between  the  two  innermost  guardians  of  the  harbor,  —  Governor's 
Island  (on  the  left),  with  its  lofty  mounds  and  citadel  and  low-lying  water- 
batteries,  and  Castle  Island  (on  the  right),  almost  covered  by  a  handsome 
stone  fort.  The  view  now  widens  rapidly ;  and  the  course  is  laid  for  more 
than  two  miles  across  President  Roads,  which  were  anciently  known  as  the 
King's  Roads.  Here  you  are  tempted  to  smile  at  the  famous  Maryland 
author  who  called  our  maze  of  pretty  islets  "a  bay  like  a  sterile  archipelago 
of  cold  gray  islands ;  "  and  to  sympathize  with  Lady  Duffus  Hardy,  prais- 


24 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HA R BOB. 


ing  "the  glorious  sail  down  Boston  Harbor."  On  the  right  the  long  asylum 
on  Thompson's  Island  appears  again,  and  the  high  barn  crowning  the  bluff 
of  Spectacle  Island  is  nearer  at  hand.  On  the  left  rise  the  graceful  elms  of 
Apple  Island,  with  the  diversified  shores  and  villages  of  Winthrop  close 
beyond.  However  sultry,  dusty,  grimy,  may  be  the  streets  just  left  behind, 
here  all  is  cool  and  invigorating.  If  the  sea  gives  forth  no  breath,  the  for- 
ward motion  of  the  boat  is  enough  to  make  the  atmosphere  vibrate.  If 
the  air  will  not  blow  against  you,  you  are  blown  against  the  air ;  and  the 
result  is  not  dissimilar.  You  may  now  fairly  say,  with  the  old  Puritan  of 
two  centuries  ago,  "A  sup  of  New  England's  air  is  better  than  a  whole 
draught  of  Old  England's  ale."  The  sense  of  refreshment  is  delicious. 
On  every  side  the  green  islands  rest,  fair  emeralds  on  a  sapphire  plain,  full 


(USB 


of  poetic  charm  and 
artistic  diversity,  and  ahead  is  the  great 
sea,  vague,  vast,  and  dreamy.  The  con- 
templation of  fellow-pilgrims,  too,  even  if  they 
be  of  "  the  doughnut  democracy,"  as  Nora  Perry  calls  a  large  part  of  our 
harbor-excursionists,  adds  not  a  little  to  the  interest  of  the  trip.  All  types 
are  here,  from  the  wide-eyed  rustic,  enjoying  every  minute  of  the  unwonted 
excursion,  to  the  blase  Somerset-Club  young  man,  for  whom  no  harbor  this 
side  of  the  Mersey  can  possibly  have  any  charms  ;  mothers,  with  noisy 
broods  of  happy  children ;  young  couples,  whom  earth,  air,  and  sea  have 
no  power  to  attract  away  from  each  other's  eyes ;  sedate  spinsters ;  rakish 
Commercial  travellers  ;  prim  clergymen,  in  conventional  black  ;  merry  young 
girls,  dressed  like  incarnate  rainbows  ;  care-worn  men  of  business  ;  the  old, 
the  young,  the  grave,  the  gay,  the  citizen,  the  countryman,  the  hoodlum, 
the  snob,  the  gentleman,  —  all  enjoying  the  superlative  comfort  and  cool- 
ness which  here  replace  the  torridity  of  the  town. 

And  so  we  pass  between  the  diversified  shores  of  Long  Island,  on  the 


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26  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

right,  with  the  hotel  near  its  centre,  and  Deer  Island  on  the  left,  where 
rise  the  great  brick  buildings  of  the  city  charitable  and  correctional  institu- 
tions. At  the  sixth  mile,  in  a  straight  line  from  the  State  House,  the  boat 
is  running  south-east,  with  Broad  Sound  and  the  open  sea  on  one  side, 
and  on  the  other  the  bold  bluff  of  Long-Island  Head,  crowned  by  a  light- 
house and  the  green  mounds  of  a  battery.  She  then  passes  the  grim 
black  pyramid  of  Nix's  Mate,  and  enters  the  narrow  ship-channel,  having 
Lovell's  Island,  sacred  to  buoys,  on  the  left,  and  Gallop's  Island,  with  its 
hospitals  and  high  bluffs,  on  the  right.  If  the  tide  favors,  however,  the 
boat  leaves  the  ship-channel  just  before  reaching  Nix's  Mate,  and  steers 
straight  for  Hull.  Beyond  the  immense  and  frowning  bulwarks  of  Fort 
Warren  she  runs  across  Nantasket  Roads,  with  the  buildings  on  Rainsford 
Island  conspicuous  on  the  right,  and  the  rocky  archipelago  about  the  light- 
house and  the  open  sea  on  the  left.  Here  the  "  glimmer-glass "  of  the 
inner  harbor  gives  place  to  a  suggestion  of  the  ocean-swell,  —  only  a/ trifle, 
not  enough  to  disturb  the  most  delicate,  but  still  a  fair  suggestion,  with 
brisk  little  white-caps  corrugating  the  blue  ripples.  In  front  are  the  lonely 
cliffs  of  Peddock's  Island  and  the  snug  village  of  Hull,  with  the  many- 
gabled  Hotel  Pemberton  proudly  prominent.  After  traversing  a  swift  and 
narrow  strait,  the  steamer  rounds  in  at  the  pier  of  Hull,  where  passengers 
may  take  the  railway  to  Nantasket. 

If  you  are  not  inclined  to  land  here,  the  boat  will  carry  you  on  across 
a  broad  and  beautiful  bay,  with  the  inner  lines  of  Nantasket  Beach  on 
the  left,  and  Peddock's  Island  and  the  Ouincy  and  Weymouth  shores  on  the 
right:  past  the  round  green  mamelon  of  Bumpkin  Island,  and  through 
the  narrow  pass  between  White  Head  and  the  pasture-hills  of  World's 
End:  and  then  up  the  picturesque  winding  reaches  of  Weir  River,  to  the 
Xantasket-Beach  pier,  hard  by  the  Hotel  Nantasket  and  the  Rockland 
House,  and  but  a  few  minutes'  walk  from  the  ocean-surf.  Other  steam- 
boats, after  leaving  Hull.*  run  south-east  across  the  inner  bay  for  about  two 
miles,  leaving  Bumpkin  Island  on  the  right,  and  reach  the  pier  at  Straw- 
berry Hill,  near  the  Sea-Foam  House,  and  a  short  distance  from  the  sea. 

The  boats  which  touch  at  the  old  pier  at  Hull  (the  easterly  one,  near 
the  hill)  do  not  go  to  the  beach,  but  run  across  the  bay  just  spoken  of 
to  Downer  Landing,  with  its  pretty  cottages  and  aristocratic  Rose  Stand- 
ish  House,  and  then  wind  up  the  crooked  harbor  to  the  ancient  town  of 
Hingham. 

The  routes  of  the  steamers  to  Nahant,  Ocean  Pier,  and  Point  of  Pines, 
coincide  with  the  course  of  the  Nantasket  boats  as  far  as  Long-Island 
Head.  Off  that  point  they  bear  away  to  the  north-east,  through  Broad 
Sound,  and  shape  their  courses  for  their  various  destinations.  Another 
excursion-route  runs  a  new  steamboat  (of  small  size)  from  Johnson's  Wharf, 


"■       s  ° 

-=; 

^ 

£? 

28  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

at  City  Point,  South  Boston,  to  Long  Island,  Winthrop,  and  other  points 
in  the  upper  harbor.  The  time-tables  of  all  the  harbor-lines  change  from 
month  to  month,  and  should  be  consulted  in  the  Boston  newspapers. 

The  Nantasket-Beach  Railroad.  —  The  Nantasket-Beach  Railroad  is  a 
new  enterprise,  which  is  highly  appreciated  by  the  people  around  the  har- 
bor, both  in  Boston  and  along  the  beaches.  It  starts  from  the  steamboat- 
pier  at  Hull,  and  runs  around  the  shore,  on  the  channel  side  of  Cushing's 
Hill,  along  the  crest  of  Stony  Beach,  over  the  west  (or  harborward)  slope 
of  Point  Allerton,  and  then  along  the  Nantasket  plains  to  the  great  beach, 
which  is  traversed  through  almost  its  entire  length.  There  are  numerous 
stations,  near  the  chief  points  of  interest  and  attraction,  at  Point  Allerton, 
Strawberry  Hill,  and  beyond.  After  passing  the  Rockland  House  the  rail- 
way turns  inland,  among  strange  rocky  hillocks,  and  meets  the  Old  Colony 
line  in  the  town  of  Hingham.  On  foggy  and  stormy  days,  this  route  is 
availed  of  by  the  people  who  must  go  to  Boston.  The  length  of  the  line 
is  nine  miles;  and  the  fare  is  ten  cents,  over  the  entire  route  or  any  part 
of  it.  It  is  one  of  the  most  charming  rides  imaginable;  close  beside  the 
cool  and  salty  sea,  with  the  waves  breaking  so  near  as  to  throw  spray,  at 
high  wind  and  tide,  over  the  rails,  —  so  near,  that,  in  the  winter  of  1882,  a 
section  of  the  track  was  destroyed  by  a  wrecked  vessel  that  was  thrown 
upon  it.  There  is  great  variety  of  scenery,  too,  —  the  stately  procession 
of  vessels  in  the  light-house  channel;  the  Brewster  Islands,  "green  and 
brown,  like  cairngorms  set  in  blue  enamel;"  the  lake-like  expanses  of  the 
inner  harbor;  and  the  wide  blue  ocean,  with  its  surges  whitening  up  the 
strand  beneath  the  car-windows. 


ICING'S    HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


29 


Efje  Ancient  Eoton  of  Hfull. 


THE    HOTEL     PEMRERTON.  —  HINGHAM     BAY. —  HULL     YACHT-CLUB.— 
TELEGRAPH    HILL.  — BITS    OF    HISTORY. 

STRONG  and  steadfast  arm,  which,  bent  on  guard,  protects 
Boston  Harbor  from  the  easterly  gales,  is  the  long  peninsula 
of  Hull.  The  shoulder  is  Atlantic  Hill;  the  biceps,  White 
Head;  the  sharp  elbow,  Point  Allerton  ;  the  tip  of  the  hand. 
Windmill  Point.  From  end  to  end  it  is  not  far  from  seven 
miles  long ;  but  its  width  will  not  average  a  half-mile,  and  for 
long  stretches  a  stone  can  be  thrown  across  it  from  the  harbor  to  the  sea. 
Hillard  complimented  the  Lido  of  Venice  by  likening  it  to  this  great  natural 
breakwater  of  Nantasket.  There  are  summer  villages  all  along  the  beach  ; 
but  the  only  place  where  those  to  the  manor  born  dwell,  the  year  round,  is  a 
quaint  old  hamlet  on  the  extreme  point,  partly  hemmed  in  and  sheltered  by 
three  high  hills.  There  are 
about  two  hundred  and  ten 
inhabitants  here,  with  thirty- 
six  on  the  adjacent  islands,  and 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
on    Nantasket    Beach.      The 


Bath-houses,  near  Hull  Pier 


village  is  nine  miles  from  Boston  by  water  ;  and  frequent  steamers  ply 
back  and  forth  in  half  an  hour,  during  the  summer  days.  It  is  twenty- 
two  miles  distant  by  land,  with  a  continuous  railway  the  entire  distance. 


30  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

The  Hotel  Pemberton  looms  up  alongside  Nantasket  Roads  like  some 
tall  castle,  over  the  low  beaches  of  Windmill  Point.  It  is  in  that  quaint 
and  somewhat  outre  form  of  architecture  for  which  good  Queen  Anne  has 
been  held  responsible,  with  towers,  gables,  balconies,  piazzas,  and  other 
picturesque  adjuncts,  and  a  coloring  of  olive  and  old  gold  which  would 
delight  even  William  Morris.  There  are  upwards  of  a  hundred  rooms,  with 
wide  and  airy  halls  and  parlors,  rich  furniture  and  carpets,  elevators,  wine- 
vaults,  gas  works  and  lights,  vast  kitchens,  billiard-tables,  and  a  bar  of  gen- 
erous proportions.  The  first  and  second  stories  are  carpeted  with  Brussels, 
and  furnished  in  black  walnut ;  the  third  and  fourth  stories  have  ash  furni- 
ture and  ingrain  carpets.  There  are  broad  piazzas  around  the  three  lower 
stories.  In  front  of  the  house  is  a  band-stand,  where  the  best  military 
music  is  given ;  and  the  scene  is  very  brilliant  at  evening,  when  a  score  of 
electric  lights  are  flashing  through  the  darkness,  and  crowds  of  people 
promenade  in  the  vicinity.  The  steamboat-pier  and  railway-station  are  in 
front  of  the  house ;  and  here  thousands  of  visitors  debark  on  every  pleasant 
summer  day,  in  search  of  the  cool  breezes  and  beautiful  views  for  which 
this  locality  is  famous.  The  main  fronts  of  the  hotel  face  the  south-west, 
across  the  broad  Ouincy  Bay  to  the  Blue  Hills ;  and  north-east,  across  Nan- 
tasket Roads  to  the  Brewster  islands  and  the  open  sea.  Almost  due  north, 
only  a  mile  away,  are  the  massive  walls  of  Fort  Warren,  whose  morning 
and  evening  guns  and  bugle-calls  are  plainly  audible,  and  whose  flag  is  seen 
to  drop  with  the  setting  sun.  To  the  westward  extends  a  broad,  open  reach 
of  the  harbor,  with  the  high  and  lonely  bluffs  of  Peddock's  Island  closing  in 
very  near  at  hand,  just  across  the  racing  waters  of  Hull  Gut.  Such  are  the 
very  satisfactory  natural  features.  An  added  charm  appears  in  the  exu- 
berant life  which  all  summer  long  throbs  about  this  sea-palace.  The  little 
cove  close  by  the  hotel  is  the  headquarters  of  a  notable  fleet  of  gallant 
yachts,  of  all  conceivable  models,  from  the  catamaran  to  the  costly  schooner- 
yacht,  from  the  arrowy  little  pleasure-steamboat  to  the  unwieldy  galliot 
which  takes  out  family  parties  on  safe  (but  not  exciting)  nautical  excursions. 
On  every  side  their  white  sails  gleam,  as  they  fly  away  towards  German- 
town  and  Weymouth,  or  swoop  daringly  among  the  light-house  islands,  or 
stand  outward  until  they  are  hull-down  on  the  level  horizon  of  the  sea. 
Among  these  spoiled  pets  of  the  waves  and  winds  the  white  harbor-steam- 
boats rush  in  and  out,  on  their  half-hourly  trips  between  the  half-roasted 
city  and  its  breezy  marine  environs.  The  fishing-vessels  are  seen  skim- 
ming out  by  the  Light,  or  beating  down  Broad  Sound;  and  the  immense 
British  steamships  move  up  the  ship-channel  with  an  air  of  conscious 
power  and  importance.  All  this,  and  much  more,  passes  within  close  view 
of  the  Pemberton,  which  is  as  devoid  as  Eddystone  Light-house  of  a  land- 
ward side. 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


XO  A 


30  B  KING  'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


31 


The  Oregon  House,  not  far  from  the  Pemberton,  was  built  in  1848,  from 
the  materials  of  the  Castle-barracks.  When  Col.  Wright's  Massachusetts 
regiment  was  coming  home  from  the  Mexican  war,  Major  Thayer,  then  in 
command  of  Fort  Independence,  disposed  of  the  barracks  there  so  that  the 
volunteers  (whom  he  greatly  disliked)  could  not  be  quartered  in  them.  The 
material  was  bought  by  Rev.  Robert  Gould,  and  carried  to  Hull,  where 
the  Oregon  House  was  built.  It  has  received  considerable  additions  during 
the  last  five  years,  and  still  retains  its  old  habitues,  who  have  come  hither 
almost  every  summer  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  is  a  favorite  resort 
for  those  who  seek  smelt-  ing,  in  the  fall;   and  no  place  on  the  coast 


can    show    such    good 
of  Hull.   Of  the  other 
are  the  St.  Cloud, 
fronting:   on    the 


fishing-grounds  as  the  waters  in  the  vicinity 
boarding-houses  in  the  village,  the  chief 
near   the    Oregon ;    the    Hayes  House, 
pond ;    and   the   Nantasket,  near  the 
bay  which    extends    toward    Straw- 
berry Hill.     The  bold   hill    on   the 


Capt.  James's  Landing,  Hull. 


south  of  the  peninsula  is  covered  with  summer  cottages  and  villas,  some  of 
which  have  much  architectural  beauty.  On  the  old  steamboat-wharf,  near 
the  Oregon  House  (where  the  boats  of  the  Hingham  line  stop)  is  the  com- 
modious house  of  the  Hull  Yacht-Club,  built  in  1882,  and  devoted  to  the 
heartiest  good-fellowship.  This  organization,  though  but  two  or  three  years 
old,  has  nearly  five  hundred  members,  and  is  the  largest  yacht-club  (with 
one  exception)  in  the  United  States.  The  handsome  sheet  of  water  which 
is  nearly  enclosed  by  Nantasket,  Hull,  Peddock's  Island,  Hough's  Neck 
and  the  mainland,  although  officially  recognized  as  a  part  of  Boston  Harbor, 
is  often  called  Hingham  Bay,  and  covers  an  area  of  nearly  ten  square  miles. 
Of  late  years  this  has  become  a  favorite  locality  for  yachtsmen,  who  can 
now  exercise  their  white-winged  steeds  Of  the  sea  with  but  little  anxiety. 
Here  many  novices  are  initiated  into  the  noble  art,  and  taught  the  meaning 
of  the  mysterious  phrases  of  nautical  science,  to  the  music  of  "  Nancy  Lee  " 
and  "  Yeo  ho  !  lads,  ho  ! "  In  this  regard,  the  house  of  the  Yacht-Club 
becomes  a  college  of  naval  science,  with  nearly  four  hundred    proficient 


32 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


students,  whose  boats,  with  all  sail  set,  are  continually  skimming  over 
this  fair  little  sea.  It  is  a  sight  of  rare  beauty,  when,  on  a  bright  summer 
day,  the  accomplishments  of  the  yachtsmen  and  the  virtues  of  their  boats 
are  tested  in  the  regatta,  and  the  bay  is  whitened  by  a  long  procession 
of  sails,  stretching  away  to  some  distant  goal,  and  rounding  to  for  the 
swift  homeward  voyage.  The  confirmed  landsman, 
who  does  not  know  the  difference  between  a  fore- 
castle and  a  flying-jib,  finds  a  more  tranquil  joy 
>ut  in  the  local  pleasure-boats,  with 
strong  hand  of  Capt.  James,  or  Sam 
Sawyer,  or  Pope,  or  Galliano,  on  the 
tiller,  and  their  practised  eyes  watch- 
ing the  course.  One  of  these 
veterans,  with  a  boat  as  clean 
as  the  boudoir  of  Lady  Clara 
Vere  de  Vere,  may  be  hired  for 
two  or  three  dollars,  for  a  long 
afternoon,  to  sail  whithersoever 
the  wind  allows.  Free  from  care 
of  course  or  current,  one  may  sail  on  for  hours  through  a  deepening  peace, 
dreaming  over  the  legends  of  the  islands,  or  enjoying  such  sweet  repose  as 
Buchanan  Read  sang  of,  in  his  "  Drifting:  "  — 


Skipper  William  James,    Hull 


"  My  soul  to-day 

Is  far  away 
Sailing  the  [fair  New-England]  Bay  ; 

My  winged  boat, 

A  bird  afloat, 
Sails  round  the  purple  peaks  remote. 


"  Under  the  walls 
Where  swells  and  falls 

The  Bay's  deep  breast  at  interval? 
At  peace  I  lie, 
Blown  softly  by, 

A  cloud  upon  this  liquid  sky. 


"  Round  purple  peaks 
It  sails,  and  seeks 

Blue  inlets  and  their  crystal  creeks, 
Where  high  rocks  throw, 
Through  deeps  below, 

A  duplicated  golden  glow. 


"  The  day,  so  mild, 
Is  Heaven's  own  child, 

With  Earth  and  Ocean  reconciled  ; 
The  airs  I  feel 
Around  me  steal 

Are  murmuring  to  the  murmuring  keel. 


"  I  heed  not  if 

My  rippling  skiff 
Float  swift  or  slow  from  cliff  to  cliff,  • 

With  dreamful  eyes 

My  spirit  lies 
Under  the  walls  of  Paradise. 


' '  Over  the  rail 
My  hand  I  trail 

Within  the  shadow  of  the  sail, 
A  joy  intense, 
The  cooling  sense 

Glides  down  my  drowsy  indolence/' 


KING'S   HANDBOOK    OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


33 


In  the  snug  little  cove,  alongside  the  Pcmberton,  there  are  commodious 
landing-stages,  and  off-shore  scores  of  yachts  have  their  moorings.  Hither 
they  return  as  the  purple  haze  of  evening  rises  from  the  eastern  sea,  folding 
their  wings  like  weary  birds,  as  they  round  the  point,  and  glide  into  the  tran- 
quil inner  waters.  There  is  a  Venetian  element  in  the  scene  after  dusk, 
when  their  colored  lights  shine  over  the  little  lagoon,  and  the  sounds  of 
music  and  mirth  float  in,  mellowed  by  distance  and  partly  muffled  by  the 
manifold  and  mysterious  voices  of  the  sea.  It  is  well  to  remember,  while 
looking  upon  this  stately  Pemberton,  that  in  1721  the  people  of  Hull  voted 
that  there' should  never  be  a  public  house  in  the  town. 

The  ancient  village  church  stood  by  the  pond,  but  was  destroyed  many 
years  ago ;  and  the  feeble  flock  of  resident  Hullonians  worshipped  in  the 
little  town-hall  (also  beside  the  pond)  until  1881,  when  an  another  churchlet 
was  erected.  The  piquancy  of  youth,  and  something  of  its  rawness,  is  ob- 
servable in  the  summer-houses  on  the  hill;  but  in  the  ancient  homes  which 
closely  line  the  winding  street  below  are  fascinating  suggestions  of  venera- 
ble traditions  of  the  last  century,  of  French  garrisons,  of  piratical  wreckers, 
of  strange  adventures  on  distant  seas.  What  stories  could  the  old  Hunt 
house  tell ;  or  Loring's  dignified  mansion,  with  its  weather-beaten  walls  half 
screened  by  friendly  foliage ;  or  the  Cushing  place,  which  since  1720  has 
guarded  the  inner  end  of  Love  Lane ;  or  the  legend-haunted  old  colonial 
house  at  the  village  end  of  Love  Lane,  rising  from  an  immense  thicket 
of  neglected  rose- 
bushes. Here  a  Haw- 
thorne or  a  Whittier 
might  find  embarras- 
sing riches  of  mate- 
rial. The  residents 
are  ethnological  cu- 
riosities. Several  of 
them  (or  their  par- 
ents) came  from  Cat- 
taro,  and  other  har- 
bors of  the  Adriatic ; 
others  from  Germa- 
ny, from  Ragusa, 
from  Portugal,  from  Capri.  The  person  who  called  himself  Mitchell  was 
a  Dalmatian,  who,  after  long  naval  service  in  the  French  fleets  of  Napo- 
leon's time,  drifted  ashore  at  Hull,  and  founded  a  family,  whose  present 
representatives  are  worthy  citizens  of  the  little  village. 

Hull  has  suffered  the  fate  of  most  isolated  communities  in  being 
maligned  by  many  visitors ;   and  startling  tales  of   false  lights,  merciless 


VJ!  ' 


Sally  Jones's  House,  Hull. 


34  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

wreckers,  and  pirates,  have  attached  themselves  to  this  salty  little  hamlet. 
But  the  venerable  old  town  is  neither  an  Alsatia  nor  a  Barrataria;  and  who- 
ever ventures  out  in  the  sailboats  of  the  peninsular  youth  will  find  good 
attention,  rude  courtesy,  and  shrewd  intelligence  in  their  pilots,  who  dearly 
love  their  little  town,  and,  as  Dr.  Holmes  says,  are  fond  of  the  modest 
paraphrase,  "All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  Hull." 

Beneath  the  shadow  of  the  hill  stands  the  Cushing  house,  built  as  a  par- 
sonage for  the  Rev,  Ezra  Carpenter,  who  ministered  at  Hull  from  1725  to 
1756.  It  is  well  preserved  (his  study  still  being  shown),  and  wears  its  years 
with  dignity.  More  than  a  century  ago,  when  Capt.  Souther  (formerly  of 
the  Royal  Navy)  lived  there,  it  was  frequently  the  summer  resting-place 
of  James  Otis,  the  famous  orator  and  Revolutionary  patriot. 

From  the  wharf  many  small  fish  are  caught,  to  the  great  glee  of  that 
portion  of  urban  Young  America  which  summers  at  Hull.  Frequently,  too, 
the  beguiling  hooks  bring  up  atrociously  hideous  sculpins,  which,  however, 
are  not  without  use  as  lobster-bait.  Nay,  they  have  even  served  a  high 
homiletical  purpose  also,  as  when  Mr.  Beecher  bade  his  startled  flock  con- 
sider, "  How  many  men  there  are  that  are  like  those  fish  we  catch  in  Boston 
Harbor,  —  four-fifths  of  them  are  mouth,  and  the  rest  is  tail." 

One  or  two  of  the  Hullonians  devote  themselves  to  hunting  seals  in  the 
harbor.  These  strange  amphibious  animals  abound  near  certain  of  the 
islands,  and  are  often  seen  sunning  themselves  upon  the  rocks.  They 
weigh  from  seventy-five  to  two  hundred  pounds  each,  and  produce  about 
two  gallons  of  oil.  Several  seal-cubs  have  been  captured  and  tamed,  mak- 
ing very  amusing  pets,  and  having  a  bark  not  unlike  that  of  a  dog. 

The  lobsters  of  Hull  have  long  been  famous.  Two  hundred  and  sixty 
years  ago  Morton  recorded  the  deeds  of  their  worst  persecutors :  "  The 
Beare  is  a  tyrant  at  a  lobster,  and  at  low  water  will  down  to  the  Rocks,  and 
groape  after  them  with  great  diligence."  There  are  thirty  or  more  fishermen 
at  Hull,  whose  baited  lobster-pots  are  sunk  at  many  points  near  the  islands, 
and  marked  by  little  floating  bits  of  wood.  This  is  the  chief  port  for  lob- 
ster-fishing in  Massachusetts,  within  whose  waters  upwards  of  a  million  of 
the  delicious  crustaceans  are  captured  yearly.  The  supply  is  fast  decreas- 
ing ;  so  that  it  may  not  be  long  with  us  as  when  the  reverend  author  of  "  New- 
England's  Plantation"  (a?i7io  1630)  veritably  wrote,  "We  take  abundance  of 
Lobsters,  that  the  least  Boy  in  the  Plantation  may  both  catch  and  eat  what 
he  will  of  them.  For  my  owne  part  I  was  soone  cloyed  with  them,  they 
were  so  great,  and  fat,  and  lussious."  Visitors  at  some  of  the  minor  sum- 
mer resorts  hereabouts  have  been  heard  plaintively  expressing  the  same 
idea. 

In  1700  the  town  opened  the  road  to  "The  Point;"  and  many  small 
wharves,   warehouses,  and  shops  were    built   to  accommodate  the  fishing- 


KING'S   HANDBOOK,  OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


35 


trade.  There  was  a  goodly  fleet  of  snug  little  schooners  finding  here  theii 
In mic  port.  Thereby  were  made  good  the  words  of  Capt.  John  Smith, 
written  about  this  coast  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago :  "Therefore,  honor- 
able and  worthy  countrymen,  let  not  the  meannesse  of  the  -wordjts/ie  distaste 
you ;  for  it  will  afford  as  good  gold  as  the  mines  of  Guiana  or  Polossie,  with 
lesse  hazard  and  charge,  and  more  certainty  and  facility.'' 

The  Vandal  axes  which  have  destroyed  the  beauty  of  this  region  were 
set  in  motion  in  1644,  when  the  Legislature  ordered  one  hundred  and  fifty 
tons  of  timber  to  be  cut  at  Nantasket,  "  to  bee  ymployed  uppon  ye  ffortifica- 
tions  att  Castle  Hand."  Five  years  later  the  planters  here  petitioned  the 
Legislature  "for  the  encouraging  Mr.  Mathewes  to  goe  to  them  and  preach 


The  Old  Lovell  House,  Hull. 


amongst  them."  But 
the  Boston  authorities  denied 
them  this  saving  help,  and 
Matthews  went  without  it. 
It  is  probable  that  the  old  Hunt 
estate  house  was  built  for  his  par- 
sonage. It  certainly  was  occupied  in  1670  by  Zechariah  Whitman,  a  Har- 
vard graduate,  who  preached  here  from  1670  to  1726;  and  Samuel  Veazie, 
pastor  from  1753  to  1767,  made  a  painting  in  the  kitchen  which  is  still  pre- 
served. Since  the  Revolution,  religious  services  have  been  held  irregularly 
in  this  smallest  of  Yankee  parishes,  and  no  pastor  settled  here  between 
1772  and  1881.  The  church  was  blown  down  in  the  great  gale  of  1815. 
In  1657  there  were  twenty  families  in  Hull,  contributing  forty  pounds  to 
the  revenue  of  Massachusetts,  and  claiming  a  notable  share  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Bay  Province. 

After  Veazie's  demise  the  old  parsonage  was  the  home  of  one  of  the 
most   notable   local   families,  —  that   of   William  Haswell,  a    British   naval 


7,6  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

officer,  who  was  wrecked  on  Lovell's  Island  in  1767,  and  settled  at  Hull, 
where  he  lived  until  the  revolt  of  America.  His  daughter,  who  passed  her 
early  years  here,  was  the  famous  Susanna  Rowson,  some  time  a  sprightly 
and  graceful  actress  in  many  cities,  and  later  the  foremost  teacher  in  Bos- 
ton, and  a  very  popular  author.  Of  her  novel  entitled  "  Charlotte  Temple," 
twenty-five  thousand  copies  were  sold  in  a  few  years.  She  was  also  the 
author  of  the  very  popular  song,  "  When  Rising  from  Ocean,"  which  was 
sung  to  the  tune  of  "  Anacreon  in  Heaven,"  afterwards  applied  to  "  The 
Star-spangled  Banner."  Mrs.  Rowson  thus  described  Hull  one  hundred 
and  twenty  years  ago,  in  her  novel  of  "  Rebecca:  "  — 

"  On  the  left  hand  of  the  entrance  of  Boston  Harbor  is  a  beautiful  little 

peninsula,  called  H :  it  consists  of  two  gradually  rising  hills,  beautifully 

diversified  with  orchards,  cornfields,  and  pasture-land.  In  the  valley  is  built 
a  little  village,  consisting  of  about  fifty  houses,  the  inhabitants  of  which  just 
make  shift  to  decently  support  a  minister,  who  on  a  Sunday  ascends  the 
pulpit,  in  a  rustic  temple,  situated  by  the  side  of  a  piece  of  water,  nearly 
in  the  middle  of  the  village,  and  teaches,  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability,  the  true 
principles  of  Christianity.  The  neck  of  land  which  joins  this  peninsula  to 
the  mainland  is  very  narrow,  and,  indeed,  is  sometimes  overflowed  by  the 
tide.  On  one  side  it  forms  a  charmingly  picturesque  harbor,  in  which  are  a 
number  of  small,  but  delightful  fertile  islands ;  and  on  the  other  it  is  washed 
by  the  ocean,  to  which  it  lays  open." 

Two  or  three  years  ago  the  venerable  house  of  Matthews,  Veazie,  and 
Haswell  was  purchased  by  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  the  Irish-American  poet, 
and  editor  of  "The  Pilot"  (the  chief  Roman-Catholic  paper  of  America), 
who  has  since  made  it  his  summer  home.  In  its  yard  is  the  grave  of  a 
British  soldier,  the  son  of  an  Old-Country  parish  curate,  who  was  mortally 
wounded  during  the  attack  on  the  light-house  in  1775,  and  brought  ashore 
by  the  victorious  Americans.  He  received  tender  care  from  the  Haswell 
family,  and  was  buried  in  their  yard,  Susannah  herself  reading  the  funeral 
service. 

The  Nantasket  House,  alongside  this  ancient  mansion,  was  (in  part) 
built  in  1675,  by  Col.  Robert  Gould;  and  the  quaint  old  post-office  was  the 
birthplace  of  Col.  Amos  Binney,  for  many  years  naval  agent  at  Boston. 

One  of  the  best-known  of  the  summer  cottagers,  during  the  last  ten  years, 
is  Samuel  F.  Smith,  D.D.,  the  venerable  scholar,  whose  poem  "My  Coun- 
try, 'tis  of  thee,"  has  become  the  national  song,  and  is  familial'  from  Sitka 
to  St.  Augustine.  Among  the  blue  hills  which  crowd  along  the  north- 
western horizon,  he  wrote  "  America,"  while  a  student  at  the  Andover 
school  of  the  prophets,  in  1832.  Among  the  other  summer  residents  are 
(or  have  been)  Col.  R.  M.  Pulsifer,  of  "  The  Boston  Herald ; "  the  Hon. 
Moody  Merrill,   President  of  the   Highland  Railway  Company ;  George  P. 


ICING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  ^ 

Lathrop,   the  novelist  and  poet,  and  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  bits  in  old  Hull  was  the  rude  platform  around 
the  flagstaff,  surrounded  with  picturesque  fragments  and  names  of  vessels 
which  had  been  wrecked  on  the  adjacent  strand.  Beneath  stood  a  quaint 
little  iron  cannon,  which  might  have  been  brought  over  on  Gov.  Winthrop's 
fleet.  This  charming  group  of  naval  and  historic  bric-a-brac  was  removed 
only  four  or  five  years  ago.  Among  the  ancient  trophies  of  Hull  was  the 
great  anchor  of  the  British  ship-of-the-line  Poictiers,  seventy-four  guns,  which 
ran  into  the  Roads  during  a  terrible  storm,  in  1812,  and  at  early  morning 
cut  her  cable  and  fled  to  sea  again.  Perhaps  she  was  frightened  by  that 
grassy  little  fort  on  Telegraph  Hill. 


During  the  last  war,  Hull  contributed  more  than  her 
quota,  sending  twenty-four  men  to  the  army  and  navy,  out 
of  a  population  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-five.  In  1759,  when  tlie  militia- 
was  enrolled,  she  reported  eight  able-bodied  men,  "and  no  more;  "  although 
even  then  her  people  boasted  that  "  Hull  had  thirty-three  houses  when  Bos- 
ton had  but  one."  The  pulse-beat  of  the  republic  was  felt  nowhere  more 
quickly  than  in  this  secluded  nook;  and  in  May,  1861,  the  men  raised  here 
a  flagstaff  one  hundred  and  eight  feet  high,  from  which  floated  an  immense 
new  American  flag,  made  by  the  women  of  Hull.  Two  years  after  the  war 
closed,  one  of  the  State  militia  brigades  was  encamped  here. 

The  highest  of  the  three  hills  which   diversify  the  little  peninsula  is 
Telegraph  Hill,  whose  summit  is  occupied  by  the  old  French   fort,  whose 


$8  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTOA?  HARBOR. 

walls,  bastions,  embrasures,  and  moats  are  still  well  preserved.  Here  also 
is  a  well,  ninety  feet  deep,  from  which  the  valiant  militiamen  hoped  to  get 
water,  should  they  be  invested  on  all  sides.  Many  a  cannon-shot  has  been 
fired  from  this  height  at  the  British  frigates  that  sailed  up  the  harbor  in 
Revolutionary  times,  and  many  a  sailor  of  his  Majesty's  service  has  thereby 
received  his  eternal  discharge.  Inside  the  fort  is  a  quaint  little  house,  aged 
and  storm-worn,  with  a  two-story  wooden  tower.  Many  years  ago  this 
station  was  established  for  the  purpose  of  signalling  to  Boston  the  approach 
of  vessels  on  the  outer  sea.  A  tower  stood  on  Central  Wharf,  Boston, 
whence  the  signals  (as  repeated  from  an  intervening  island)  were  observed, 
and  repeated  to  the  Old  State  House.  At  first  the  names  and  characters  of 
incoming  ships  were  indicated  by  wooden  arms,  at  varying  angles,  on  a  tall 
staff;  and  later,  a  set  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  different  flags,  one  for  each 
shipping  merchant  of  Boston,  was  in  use.  Vessels  entering  the  Bay  bore 
their  owner's  colors,  and  their  identity  was  thus  easily  made  out,  and  sig- 
nalled to  Boston.  Since  the  invention  of  the  telegraph,  this  cumbrous 
system  has  been  abandoned,  and  marine  news  passes  up  by  a  wire  twenty- 
five  miles  long,  leading  around  the  South  Shore.  A  message  is  sent  every 
half-hour,  and  recorded  in  a  great  book  at  the  Boston  Merchants'  Exchange, 
together  with  the  reports  from  Highland  Light,  so  that  the  merchants  can 
tell  at  any  time  what  is  going  on  in  the  Bay.  The  custom-house  officers  and 
other  harbor-guards  are  warned  in  like  manner.  When  large  ocean-steam- 
ships are  coming  in  at  night,  they  are  recognized  by  their  rockets  and  blue 
lights.  The  operator  reports  the  approach  of  all  steamers,  West-Indiamen, 
and  square-rigged  vessels,  but  ignores  fishing-craft  and  small  coasters. 
The  hull  of  a  vessel  can  be  seen  eighteen  miles  out,  and  her  spars  at 
twenty  miles  out.  In  the  winter  season  the  little  building  is  rocked  and 
penetrated  by  the  howling  storms ;  and  in  summer  the  wires  on  this  lofty 
point  sometimes  draw  in  white  shafts  of  lightning;  but  the  old  salts  remain 
here  unconcernedly,  spinning  their  unending  yarns,  and  occasionally  sweep- 
ing the  outer  Bay  with  a  telescope,  as  if  they  were  perched  on  the  main-top 
of  a  cruiser,  on  look-out  duty. 

The  surrounding  intrenchments  are  full  of  interest  to  antiquarians,  being 
of  ancient  and  somewhat  uncertain  origin.  In  1778  Massachusetts  called 
out  three  thousand  of  her  militia  to  finish  and  garrison  the  harbor  forts ;  and 
Washington  sent  the  Chevalier  Du  Portail,  then  chief  engineer  of  the  United- 
States  army,  to  superintend  the  construction  of  the  new  works.  This  offi- 
cer planned  the  defences  of  West  Point,  and  was  afterwards  Minister  of 
War  in  France.  The  fort  on  Telegraph  Hill  was  armed  with  several  heavy 
guns,  and  garrisoned  by  militia  from  Hingham  and  adjacent  towns.  It  was 
for  a  long  time  under  the  direction  of  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln,  and  some 
say  that  Lafayette  himself  made  the  working-plans  from  which  it  was  built. 


KING'S   HAX/WOOK   OF   HOSTON  IIAKJiOR. 


39 


Military  engineers  find  the  little  fort  very  interesting,  as  an  example   of  old 
French  fortress-architecture. 

Some  part  of  this  work  was  probably  erected  in  1778,  when  the  for- 
midable French  frigates  Char,  Provence,  Fatitasqnc,  Zele,  Sagittairc, 
Tonnant,  Hector,  Vaillant,  and  others,  lay  in  Nantasket  Roads,  and  the 
line-of-battle  ships  Languedoc  and  Marseillais,  which  had  been  so  roughly 
used  by  the  British  vessels  Renown  and  Isis,  off  Rhode  Island,  were 
being  repaired  at  Boston.  Not  satisfied  with  fortifying  all  the  adjacent 
islands,  the 
Count  D'Es- 
taing  landed  all 
his  mar  ines 
and  large  de- 
tachments of 
sailors,  at  Hull. 
and  erected 
here  a  formida- 
ble thirty -gun 
batterv.  When 


Old  Fort  and  Signal  Station,  Telegraph  Hill, 
Hull. 


the  British    fleet   was    seen    in    the 
Bay,    apparently    making    ready    to 
force  its  way  into  the  Roads,  D'Es- 
taing  left   the    Languedoc,  his  flag- 
ship, and  transferred  the  headquar- 
ters to  the  Cesar,  where  he  awaited  the  expected  attack,  having  his  fleet 
cleared  for  action,  and  his  batteries  shotted,  ready  for  a  close  and  desperate 
engagement. 

On  the  17th  of  July,  1776,  the  battery  on  this  site,  and  that  on  Long- 
Island  Head,  fired  a  salute  of  thirteen  guns,  in  honor  of  the  promulgation 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  had  just  reached  Boston.  In 
case  of  war,  it  would  become  necessary  to  fortify  and  garrison  this  position 
strongly ;  since  it  looks  down  almost  into  the  parade-ground  of  Fort  War- 
ren, and  a  hostlie  battery  here  could  break  "  the  key  of  the  harbor"  in  short 
order.     The  artillery  officers  at  the  fort  have  recognized  the  strategic  im- 


40  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

portance  of  this  position,  and  doubtless  have  prepared  their  plans  to  make 
of  Telegraph  Hill  a  miniature  Gibraltar. 

The  view  from  this  point  is  magnificent ;  and  on  summer  days,  especially 
towards  sunset,  it  is  enjoyed  by  many  visitors,  grouped  on  the  venerable 
grassy  ramparts.  It  includes  all  the  white  summer  resorts  on  the  North 
and  South  Shores,  from  Manchester  and  Magnolia  around  to  Cohasset 
and  Hingham ;  the  long  and  graceful  curve  of  Nantasket  Beach,  with 
its  crowded  hotels  ana  cottages ;  the  island-studded  harbor,  bounded  by 
the  rolling  Blue  Hills  and  the  masses  of  buildings  which  culminate  in  the 
gilded  dome  of  the  State  House ;  and,  far  away  in  the  interior,  the  azure 
crest  of  Wachusett.  On  a  clear  day  you  may  see,  beyond  the  black  and 
rocky  Brewsters  around  which  the  waves  whiten  ceaselessly,  the  dim  line 
of  Cape  Ann  and  the  twin  light-houses  on  Thacher's  Island.  At  night  the 
scene  is  still  beautiful,  and  includes  the  warning  lights,  fixed  and  revolving, 
on  a  wide  range  of  coast ;  the  twinkling  house-lamps  in  scores  of  villages ; 
the  colored  lanterns  of  vessels  bound  in  and  out ;  and  the  multiform  fire- 
works and  electric  illuminations  with  which  the  summer  hotels  diversify  the 
night. 

Telegraph  Hill  is  owned  by  an  elderly  maiden  lady  of  Hingham,  who 
tenaciously  refuses  to  sell  or  lease  it.  Were  it  not  so,  this  glorious  height, 
sacred  now  to  pure  beauty  and  grandeur,  would  be  quickly  occupied  by  dull 
little  bourgeois  cottages ;  and  the  peaceful  cattle,  browsing  the  salty  grass 
through  which  the  path  leads  upward,  would  be  banished  to  the  lonely 
shores  of  Peddock's.     No  more  hence  could  we  look  out  where,  — 

"At  dawn  the  fleet  stretched  miles  away, 

On  ocean  plains  asleep,  — 
Trim  vessels  waiting  for  the  day 

To  move  across  the  deep. 
So  still  the  sails,  they  seemed  to  be 
White  lilies  growing  in  the  sea. 

"When  evening  touched  the  cape's  low  rim, 

And  dark  fell  on  the  waves, 
We  only  saw  processions  dim 

Of  clouds  from  shadowy  caves : 
These  were  the  ghosts  of  buried  ships, 
Gone  down  in  one  brief  hour's  eclipse." 

Near  the  foot  of  the  hill,  on  the  side  towards  the  open  sea,  stood  the  ceme- 
tery of  the  French  army  which  was  quartered  in  and  about  the  deserted 
village  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  Here,  if  the  local  traditions  are  not 
at  fault,  several  hundred  of  our  gallant  allies  were  buried,  after  the  fatal 
prevalence  of  an  epidemic.     Poor  boys !  the  flower  of  the  youth  of  France, 


KING'S    HANDBOOK    OF  BOSTON   1/ ARBOR. 


41 


they  passed  into  rest  here,  lulled  to  their  long  slumbers  by  the  moan  of 
the  northern  sea,  and  nevermore  should  see  the  flowery  banks  of  Seine 
or  Loire,  the  pleasant  hills  of  Auvergne.  Even  History  herself  has  for- 
gotten them :  but  a  few  wrinkled  crones  in  the  neighboring  village  tell  (as  it 
was  told  to  them)  how  they  died  ;  and  every  springtime  kindly  Nature  adorns 
their  graves  with  hardy  flowers,  chief  among  which  is  their  own  royal 
emblem,  the  fleur-dc-lys. 

"  By  rocky  coast,  in  salty  bight, 
Their  banners  glitter  in  the  light." 

The  ancient  road  from  Hull  to  the  mainland  runs  up  from  the  pond  over 
the  low  col  north  of  Telegraph  Hill,  and  down  to  the  shore  of  Light-house 
Channel.  It  is  a  delightful  grass-grown 
track,  so  lonely  and  still  that  imagi- 
native visitors  have  called  it  the 
Appian  Way;  flanked  on  either 
side  by  ruined  fortifications 
built  by  Latin  armies  (for  so 
we  may  designate  our  French 
allies),  and  bordered  at  one 
point  by  a  diminutive  grove  of 
gnarled  and  wind  -  wrenched 
thorn-apple  trees  {Datura  stra- 
monium), whose  seeds  were 
brought  from  France.  Thoreau 
noted  these  very  trees,  and  rejoiced  : 
"At  sight  of   this   cosmopolite,  —  this 

Capt.  Cook    among    plants,  —  Carried    in    bal-    Hull  Burying-Ground  and  Point  Allerton. 

last  all  over  the  world,  I  felt  as  if    I  were 

on  the  highway  of  nations.  Say,  rather,  this  Viking,  king  of  the  bays,  for 
it  is  not  an  innocent  plant :  it  suggests,  not  merely  commerce,  but  its  attend- 
ant vices,  as  if  its  fibres  were  the  stuff  of  which  pirates  spin  their  yarns." 
Where  the  road  reaches  its  highest  point,  a  noble  sea-view  opens  out, 
with  the  neighboring  rocky  islets  off-shore,  and  beyond  a  weltering  blue 
expanse,  which  stretches  eastward,  without  a  break,  to  the  remote  Iberian 
coasts  of  Pontevedra  and  Cape  Finisterre, 

"A  glimpse  of  blue  immensity, 
A  little  strip  of  sea." 

On  the  south-east  slope  of  Telegraph  Hill  is  the  old  graveyard  of  the 
village,  recognizable  from  miles  away  by  its  luxuriant  trees.  The  oldest 
monument  bears  the  date  of  1708.     Here  are  the  graves  of  many  Cushings 


42        KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

and  Lorings,  and  memorial  slabs  to  men  who  were  buried  at  sea  or  in  dis- 
tant ports.  There  were  many  very  ancient  monuments  here ;  but  the  local 
tradition  says  that  they  were  carried  down  to  the  waterside  during  the  time 
the  French  army  laid  at  Hull,  and  utilized  as  wash-boards.  The  soldiers 
probably  used  them  as  the  riverside  blanchisseuses  of  Paris  still  do  the  sides 
of  their  barges  and  quays,  by  beating  the  wet  clothes  against  them. 

In  this  locality,  where  so  many  of  the  actors  in  the  long  history  of  Hull 
have  gone  to  rest,  let  us  contemplate  a  few  episodes  in  the  history  of  the 
hamlet. 

We  have  a  fair  glimpse  of  the  coasts  between  Cape  Ann  and  Cohasset, 
before  the  pestilence  nearly  annihilated  the  aborigines,  in  Capt.  John 
Smith's  rather  optimistic  description  of  his  voyage  in  1614:  "And  then 
the  country  of  the  Massachusits  which  is  the  paradise  of  all  those  parts : 
for  here  are  many  lies  all  planted  with  corne ;  groves,  mulberries,  salvage 
gardens,  and  good  harbors:  the  coast  is  for  the  most  part,  high  clayie 
sandie  cliffs.  The  Sea  Coast  as  you  passe,  shewes  you  all  along  large 
corne  fields,  and  great  troupes  of  well  proportioned  people  :  but  the  French 
having  remained  heere  neere  sixe  weekes,  left  nothing  for  us  to  take  occa- 
sion to  examine  the  inhabitants  relations,  viz.  if  there  be  neere  three  thou- 
sand people  upon  these  lies;  and  that  the  river  doth  pearce  many  daies 
journieis  the  intralles  of  that  countrey.'' 

It  is  said  that  three  wandering  Englishmen,  Thomas  and  John  Gray, 
and  Walter  Knights,  bought  this  Hull  peninsula  from  its  Indian  lords,  as 
early  as  the  year  1622,  and  settled  there.  Not  long  afterward  they  were 
joined  by  John  Oldham,  John  Lyford,  and  Roger  Conant,  from  Plymouth. 
The  Pilgrims  had  already  built  a  trading-station  here;  and  these  three 
worthies  appointed  themselves  respectively  as  chief  of  traffic  with  the 
Indians,  Episcopal  chaplain,  and  chief  of  fisheries.  Morton  thus  narrates 
the  expulsion  of  John  Oldham  from  Plymouth :  "  A  lane  of  Musketiers  was 
made,  and  he  compelled  in  scorne  to  passe  along  betweene,  &  to  receave  a 
bob  by  every  musketier,  and  then  a  board  a  shallop,  and  so  convayed  to 
Wessagusus  shoare,  &  staid  at  Massachussets,  to  whom  John  Layford  and 
some  few  more  did  resort,  where  Master  Layford  freely  executed  his  office 
and  preached  every  Lords  day,  and  yet  maintained  his  wife  and  children 
foure  or  five,  upon  his  industry  there,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  and  the 
plenty  of  the  Land,  without  the  helpe  of  his  auditory,  in  an  honest  and 
laudable  manner,  till  hee  was  wearied  and  made  to  leave  the  Country." 

In  time  Oldham  and  Lyford  went  away;  and  Conant  sailed  to  the  north- 
ward, where  he  founded  Gloucester  and  Salem.  When  the  Winthrop 
colony  arrived,  and  settled  Boston,  they  spoke  of  the  plantation  at  the 
mouth  of  the  harbor  as  "an  uncoth  place,"  which,  however,  contributed  to 
the  costs  of  the  expedition  against  Merrymount.     The  little  Episcopal  flock 


ICING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  43 

which  followed  Lyford  from  Plymouth  had  not  chosen  to  go  with  him  to 
Virginia.  Probably  the  chief  settlement  was  near  Straits  Pond  and  Weir 
River.  In  1629  there  were  four  clergymen  at  Salem,  of  whom  at  least  two 
found  themselves  superfluous ;  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  and  his  family 
thereupon  "goes  to  some  straggling  people  at  Natasco."  The  name  of 
Hull  first  appears  in  1644,  and  was  derived  from  the  stout  old  Yorkshire 
seaport  of  Kingston-upon-Hull,  just  then  famous  for  its  sieges  in  the  Civil 
Wars.  (Some  say,  however,  that  it  was  named  from  Joseph  Hull  of  Hing- 
ham.) 

It  was  in  the  pleasant  springtime  of  1630  that  the  Mary  and  John, 
a  great  ship  of  four  hundred  tons,  left  English  Plymouth,  and  crossed  the 
seas  to  the  western  wilderness,  bearing  many  "godly  families  of  Devon- 
shire and  Dorsetshire,"  and  their  goods.  "They  came  by  the  good  hand  of 
the  Lord,  through  the  deeps  comfortably,"  says  the  record  of  the  voyage. 
But  Capt.  Squeb  was  a  careful  mariner,  and  durst  not  sail  his  heavily  laden 
ship  into  an  unknown  and  intricate  harbor.  So  he  plumped  them  and  theirs 
ashore  on  Nantasket,  which  the  hundred  and  forty  saints  stigmatized  as 
"  a  forlorn  place  in  this  wilderness."  Here  they  abode  for  some  days,  while 
reconnoitring  parties  were  sent  out  (under  Southcot,  a  veteran  of  the  Low- 
Country  Wars), —  one  which  ascended  to  Watertown,  and  encamped  three 
days,  amicably  exchanging  English  biscuit  for  Indian  bass  with  the  natives ; 
and  another  which  examined  the  South-Boston  peninsula,  and  secured  the 
removal  of  the  colony  thither.  The  Mary  and  John  laid  off  Nantasket 
for  some  time ;  for  Gov.  Winthrop  called  on  Capt.  Squeb,  and  was  received 
with  a  salute  of  five  guns. 

After  this  invasion  by  the  Puritans,  the  planters  at  Hull  enjoyed  peace 
for  two  years.  In  1632  the  Bostonians,  "in  regard  the  French. were  like  to 
prove  ill  neighbors,  being  Papists,"  resolved  to  build  a  fort  here,  "partly  to 
be  some  block  in  an  enemy's  way  (though  it  could  not  bar  his  entrance)."  So 
Gov.  Winthrop  and  his  four  assistants,  with  three  ministers  and  eighteen 
citizens,  sailed  down  to  Hull,  to  choose  the  best  strategic  point.  A  stiff 
north-wester  kept  them  there  two  winter  days  and  nights,  during  which  time 
they  lived  on  shell-fish,  and  slept  on  the  ground,  but  yet  contrived  to  be 
•'  very  merry,"  as  the  record  avers.  The  natural  conclusion  of  the  matter 
was,  that  "  It  was  agreed  by  all  that  to  build  a  fort  there  would  be  of  too 
great  charge  and  of  little  use ;  whereupon  the  planting  of  that  place  was 
deferred." 

Some  of  the  founders  of  New  England  made  their  homes  here,  in  those 
remote  days.  John  Prince,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Hull,  was  the  son  of 
the  rector  of  East  Shefford,  in  English  Berkshire,  and  received  his  educa- 
tion at  Oxford.  He  fled  to  New  England  when  Archbishop  Laud's  perse- 
cutions began,  and  settled  on  the  sea-girt  peninsula.     From  him  descended 


44  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  Rev.  John  Prince,  the  famous  author  of  the  New-England  Chronology. 
Another  of  the  ancient  worthies  was  James  Pemberton  (from  whom  the 
hotel  is  named),  a  wandering  and  adventurous  fellow,  of  Winthrop's  colony, 
who  finally  founded  the  town  of  Maiden  (in  1661-62),  where  he  died.  Israel 
Loring  was  born  at  Hull  in  1682,  and  became  one  of  the  church  fathers  of 
New  England,  occupying  the  pastorate  of  Sudbury  for  sixty-six  years.  He 
published  over  one  thousand  pages  of  printed  matter,  and  left  behind  him 
MS.  records  and  journals  filling  thirty  volumes  of  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  pages  each.  From  this  venerable  pastor  the  Ohio  Lorings  and  other 
widely  scattered  branches  descended. 

In  1673,  when  Massachusetts  was  beleaguered  by  enemies,  Hull  set  up  a 
beacon  and  watch-house  on  her  highest  point,  and  prepared  fire-balls  of 
pitch  and  oakum  with  which  to  send  an  alarm  up  the  Bay.  Telegraph  Hill 
was  then  covered  with  cornfields.  Two  years  later,  in  the  thick  of  King 
Philip's  War,  the  villagers  sent  up  to  the  "  Honorable  Council  at  Boston"  this 
pathetic  appeal:  "The  Petition  off  your  poore  petitioners  humbly  sheweth, 
that  Whereas  the  Lord  by  his  prouidence  hath  cast  vs  to  haue  our  abode  as 
inhabitants  in  this  towneof  Hull,  in  this  iuncture  of  time,  where  in  both  this 
place  as  well  as  the  Whole  Country  is  exposed  to  the  wasting  ffury  off  the 
most  barbarous  heathen,  which  wee  are  sensible  off,  and  therfore  ffreely 
willinge  to  spend  our  care,  our  strength,  yea,  wee  hope  our  very  lives,  in  and 
for  the  defence  off  this  place,  and  the  Country,  yet,  beinge  persons  whose  sole 
employment  is  fnshinge,  and  soe  att  sea,  hauinge  no  lands,  nor  Cattle  to 
mayntayne  ourselves,  or  familyes,  but  what  wee  must  haue  hitherto  done  by 
the  blessinge  of  God  on  our  Labours  produced  ffrom  the  sea:  beinge  there- 
fore now  comanded  by  our  Cheife  officer,  not  to  goe  forth  on  our  imploy, 
desired  then  to  know,  how  Wee  and  ours  shall  be  mayntayned,  they  hauinge 
a  year's  prouision  aforehand,  Wee  none  :  they  hauinge  Cattle  to  giue  milke 
to  theire  familyes  in  summer,  Wee  none ;  they  hauinge  Cattle  and  swine  to 
kill  for  meats,  Wee  none ;  soe  that  Wee  are  like  to  bee  put  to  Extremity, 
both  Wee  and  ours ;  ffor  they  will  not  support  us." 

The  Nantasket  beacon  was  erected  in  1696,  and  the  standing  orders  to 
the  watchers  were  to  fire  it  "on  the  sight  of  two  great  ships."  In  August, 
1690,  Sir  William  Phipps  and  his  colonial  officers  landed  here,  and  had  a 
farewell  feast.  At  evening  the  fleet  of  thirty-two  sail  moved  out  to  sea, 
and  entered  upon  the  mournful  and  disastrous  expedition  against  Quebec. 
A  few  months  earlier  Phipps  had  sailed  from  Nantasket  Roads  with  three 
war-vessels  and  seven  hundred  men,  and  captured  Port  Royal  with  its 
well-armed  fortress.  Many  other  naval  expeditions  were  sent  hence 
against  Port  Royal  during  the  next  half-century,  the  chief  of  which  was 
composed  of  the  frigates  Dragon,  Chester,  Falmouth,  Lcostaffe,  etc.,  with 
twenty  transports  and  five  New-England  regiments.     In  1704  Col.  Benja- 


KING'S   HANDBOOK     OF   BOSTON  HARBOR. 


45 


niin  Church  gathered  an  army  of  live  hundred  and  fifty  Ncw-Englanders 
and  Indians,  and  kept  them  in  camp  at  Hull  for  several  weeks;  after  which 
they  sailed  away  to  the  eastward,  convoyed  by  three  frigates,  and  made  a 
destructive  foray  on  the  French  settlements  of  Maine  and  Acadie. 

Perhaps  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  all  these  royal  fleets  did  despite  to 
the  Hullonian  hen-roosts  and  orchards,  for  this  was  one  of  the  first  locali- 
ties to  pronounce  against  the  king's  government.  As  early  as  1774  the 
town  had  protested  against  British  aggression,  by  an  unanimous  vote;  and, 
when  the  Revolution  began,  the  young  Dills  volunteered  in  the  American 
army,  and  received  from  their  admiring  townsmen  twenty-seven  hundred 
pounds  (unfortunately  in  Old  Tenor).  At  a  later  date  the  village  was 
deserted  except  by  a  single  family,  and  made  a  comfortable  cantonment  for 
the  army  of  the  Count  de  Rochambeau,  which  encamped  here  in  quarantine 
before  its  embarkation  for  the  Southern  battle-fields. 


When  D'Estaing's  fleet  lay  off  in  the  Roads,  in  1778,  many  of  the  first 
gentlemen  of  France  and  their  Jacobite  Scottish  comrades  met  here  the 
magnates  of  Massachusetts.  In  October,  1778,  Gen.  Heath  visited  Nan- 
tasket  in  company  with  the  Count  D'Estaing,  and  inspected  the  forts,  which 
had  recently  been  strengthened  under  Gen.  Du  Portail's  directions,  and 
were  under  the  command  of  Bougainville,  the  celebrated  circumnavigator 
of  the  globe  (1766-69).  Heath  also  reviewed  the  battalion  of  French 
marines  in  garrison,  which  was  commanded  by  Major  M'Donald,  a  Scottish 
refugee  and  lover  of  the  fallen  Stuart  dynasty.     When  Lord  Howe's  fleet 


46  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

reconnoitred  the  harbor,  the  town  was  alarmed  by  the  signal-guns ;  and 
Hancock  hastened  to  the  fleet,  and  all  the  militia  of  the  adjacent  towns 
was  ordered  to  the  shores  and  islands  of  the  harbor.  The  sturdy  minute- 
men  of  Norfolk  and  Middlesex  fraternized  with  the  veterans  of  France, 
encamping  on  the  grassy  slopes  of  these  hills  of  Hull. 

At  the  end  of  the  war  the  Hullonians  reclaimed  the  fragments  of  their 
homes,  and  once  more  became  toilers  of  the  sea.  Within  a  single  genera- 
tion, however,  the  roar  of  hostile  cannon  once  more  shook  their  windows. 
It  was  annoying  to  the  housewives  of  Hull  that  the  battle  between  the 
Chesapeake  and  Shannon  began  at  the  time  it  did,  for  they  had  just  got 
supper  on  their  tables ;  but  at  the  first  broadside  all  the  men  ran  from 
their  homes,  and  clambered  up  to  the  hill-tops,  to  see  the  mighty  naval 
duel.  This  fact  has  been  repeated  by  one  of  these  venerable  women,  within 
five  years;  although,  more  feminina,  she  stated  that  the  battle  was  between 
the  Constihition  and  Essex,  and  that  the  latter  was  sunk  off  Point  Allerton  ! 

Mrs.  Lobdell's  public  house  was  opened  in  1775;  and  it  has  had  many 
successors,  until  the  perfect  development  of  the  Pemberton  is  attained. 
The  point  which  projects  toward  Hull  Gut  was  leased  by  the  Tudor  family, 
in  1826,  for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years,  at  fifty  dollars  a  year;  and 
extensive  salt-works,  artificial  ponds,  dikes,  etc.,  were  established  there  at 
great  expense.  But  these  failed  of  success,  and  about  forty  years  ago  the 
Tudors  erected  the  Mansion  House  from  their  materials.  On  a  snowy 
night  of  1871  this  pioneer  summer-hotel  was  burned;  and  its  successor,  the 
Tudor  House,  met  the  same  fate  in  1875,  making  way  for  the  Pemberton. 
And  so,  within  a  quarter  of  a  millennium,  this  obscure  Massachusetts  penin- 
sula has  successively  been  a  desolation,  a  feeble  Episcopal  plantation,  a 
Puritan  fishing-port,  a  Continental  fortress,  a  French  camp,  a  wreckers' 
colony,  a  semi-Dalmatian  maritime  hamlet,  a  Yankee  village,  and  an  opulent 
American  summer-resort. 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR  47 


Point  OTerton. 

STONY  BEACH. —  POINT  ALLERTON.  —  THE    "  KADOSH."  — NOBLE    VIEWS.  —  THE 

SEA-KING'S   FATE. 

XTENDING  from  the  foot  of  Telegraph  Hill  and 
Vining's  pretty  cottage,  to  Point  Allerton,  is  the 
narrow  isthmus  of  Stony  Beach,  more  than  half  a 
mile  long,  making  several  graceful  curves  between 
i  the  harbor  and  Nantasket  Roads,  and  giving  scant 
room  for  the  railway  and  highway  between  the  two 
strands.  Its  title  is  perfectly  descriptive ;  and  the 
weedy  rocks  on  the  outer  shore  exhale  the  pungent 
and  fascinating  odors  of  the  sea,  with  which  they  have  been  for  so  many 
centuries  saturated.  All  along  these  beaches  the  men  of  Cohasset  make 
their  patrols,  after  stormy  weather,  in  search  of  sea-moss.  The  virtues  of 
kelp  were  once  much  extolled  hereabouts,  and  the  old  hut  where  Jack  Hayden 
brewed  medicines  from  it  is  still  pointed  out.  Thoreau  says  that  he  found 
the  people  of  Hull  also  making  potash,  by  burning  the  stems  of  kelp,  and 
boiling  the  ashes.  On  the  harbor-side  is  a  large  wharf,  where  the  United- 
States  engineers  landed  granite,  which  was  carried  thence  on  a  railway,  for 
the  construction  of  the  Point-Allerton  sea-wall.  The  wooden  house  of  the 
Massachusetts  Humane  Society,  on  the  crest  of  the  beach,  contains  the  large 
life-boat,  the  mortar,  life-car,  and  other  means  to  save  the  crews  of  vessels 
which  may  be  wrecked  on  the  adjacent  dangerous  shores.  There  are  plenty 
of  brave  and  expert  surfmen  in  the  neighboring  village,  who  do  not  esteem 
their  lives  too  precious  to  imperil  when  vessels  are  in  distress  within  their 
reach.  The  coast  of  the  Bay  State  is  now  lined  with  these  life-saving  stations, 
by  whose  means  many  lives  have  been  saved  from  the  all-devouring  sea. 

Little  Hog  Island,  covering  about  ten  acres,  and  favored  by  masculine 
summer-campers,  lies  just  to  the  south  of  Hull,  —  a  long,  low  shape,  without 
even  a  single  tree  to  mark  its  low  bluffs  and  winding  points.  Thoreau  said, 
"  As  I  looked  over  the  water,  I  saw  the  isles  rapidly  wasting  away,  the  sea 
nibbling  voraciously  at  the  continent.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand,  these  wrecks 
of  isles  were  being  fancifully  arranged  into  new  shores,  as  at  Hog  Island, 
inside  of  Hull,  where  every  thing  seemed  to  be  gently  lapsing  into  futurity. 
This  isle  had  got  the  very  form  of  a  ripple."  There  is  on  it  little  of  inter- 
est, save  the  hulls  of  two  old  vessels,  lying  upon  their  sides  on  the  beach, 


48 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


and  fast  decaying,  inhabited  by  myriads  of  spiders,  large  and  small,  who 
have  carefully  woven  their  silken  webs  across  every  corner,  and  seem  so 
alert  that  one  hesitates  to  intrude  upon  their  domain,  and  turns  instead  to 
the  other  side  of  the  island,  where  pass  the  steamboats  to  Hingham 
and  Downer,  and  the  little  fleet  of  sailboats  just  out  from  Hull.  Peace  to 
the  worn  old  timbers  of  the  Passport  and  Virginia  /  They  have  cruised 
in  many  seas,  and  find  here  their  ultima  thtile. 

At  the  east  end  of  Stony  Beach  is  the  peninsula  of  Point  Allerton,  about 
half  a  mile  long,  and  joined  to  Hull  and  to  Nantasket  Beach  by  isthmuses. 
To  the  north  it  looks  on  the  Light-house  Channel ;  to  the  east,  on  the  sea. 


its  from  trie   Life- Saving  Station. 


It  is  a  high  and  picturesque  promontory,  which  once  extended  far  out,  to 
the  locality  now  marked  by  a  singular  pyramidal  beacon,  rising  from  the 
waves.  A  part  of  the  second  hill,  which  then  swept  over  to  the  beacon, 
still  stands,  and  shows  what  Thoreau  called  the  "  springing  arch  of  a  hill 
suddenly  interrupted,  as  at  Point  Allerton,  —  what  botanists  might  call 
premorse,  —  showing,  by  its  curve  against  the  sky,  how  much  space  it  must 
have  occupied,  where  now  was  water  only."  The  United  States  has  marked 
bounds  to  Neptune's  voracious  nibbling,  by  building  a  long  and  massive 
sea-wall  around  what  remains  of  the  Point.  Near  the  verge  is  a  little  white 
farm-house,  sheltered  on  two  sides  by  the  hills,  and  whose  narrow  fields  lie 
full  open  to  the  breath  of  the  sea,  so  that  one  would  think  that  the  vegeta- 
bles grown  there  would  need  no  salting. 

The  upper  part  of  the  great  rounding  hill  is  a  flowery  pasture  of  several 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


49 


.11  res,  peopled  by  birds  and  butterflies,  and  terminating  toward  the  sea  in 
a  sharp  and  amazing  cliff,  far  below  which  the  waves  beat  against  impass- 
able barriers.     Here  is  a  grand  view-point,  —  solitary,  far-secluded  from  the 
dapper  summer-cottages,  —  where  the  contemplative  man  is  able 
"  To  musen  in  his  philosophic, 
Sole  withouten  companie." 

It  is  an  enchanted  scene,  where  the  narrow-laned  harbor  opens  to  the  west- 
ward, diversified  by  islands  great  and  small,  gray  forts,  white  light-houses, 
and  b  1  u'ff  s 
gnawed  away 
by  the  waves ; 
or  where  the 
silvery  curve 
of  Nantasket 
Beach  sweeps 
away  to  the 
south,  fringed 
by  a  snowy 
line  of  surf ; 
or  where,  to 
the   eastward, 


the  vast  open  sea  stretches  into 
dim  blue  leagues,  holding  here  and 
there  in  its  immensity  the  slow- 
moving  vessels  bound  on  many  dis- 
tant errands,  and  flecked  with  shad- 
From  the  edge  of  the  cliff  one  may  comprehend 

"  The  wrinkled  sea  beneath  him  crawls." 

"  Like  the  promontory  of  Palinurus,  Point  Allerton  is  respectfully  regarded 
as  the  memorial  of  an  ancient  worthy ;  and  the  appellation,  perpetuating 
the  memory  of  a  man  of  the  greatest  commercial  enterprise  in  those  early 
times,  is  most  fitly  applied.  Gaudet  cognomine  terras  Thus  spake  one 
of  the  famous  orators  of  New  England;  and  he  said  well,  for  Isaac  Aller- 


ows  of  passing  clouds. 
Tennyson's  phrase, — 


50 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


Little   Hill.   Point  Allerton. 


ton  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  ancient  Plymouth  colony.  When  but 
twenty-five  years  old,  he  went  to  Leyden,  and  thence  sailed  in  the  May- 
flower twelve  years  later  for  America.  He  went  out  with  Standish's 
party,  exploring  Boston  Bay,  in  162 1  ;  and  the  name  of  Point  Allerton  was 
probably  bestowed  at  that  time.  In  later  years  he  cruised  adventurously 
along  the  coasts  of  Maine  and  Acadie,  in  his  ship  White  Angel.  Once 
he  sailed  into  Port  Royal,  and  ordered  La  Tour  to  show  his  commission ; 
to  which  the  haughty  Frenchman  made  answer,  "  My  sword  is  sufficient 
commission;"  and  the  Plymouth  sailor  could  not  impeach  the  validity  of 
such  a  document.     In  subsequent  years  Allerton  fell  out  with  the  Pilgrims, 

and  sailed 
away  to  New 
Amsterdam, 
where  he  be- 
came a  magis- 
trate among 
the  Dutch- 
men. No 
small  part  of 
the  trouble  at 
Plymouth 
arose  from  his  earnest  friendship  for  the  merry  rascal  Morton,  whom  he 
brought  back  from  England  after  the  saints  had  banished  him.  There  is 
a  pretty  tradition  in  the  Old  Colony,  that  the  fair  young  May  Chilton's 
foot  was  the  first  to  press  the  snow-clad  Plymouth  Rock ;  and  her  friend 
May  Allerton,  daughter  of  our  hero,  was  the  latest  survivor  of  the  Pilgrim 
band,  having  lived  until  twelve  out  of  the  thirteen  American  colonies  had 
been  founded. 

This  locality  is  designated  as  Allerton  Poynt  on  Wood's  map,  made  in 
1634.  Some  of  the  ancient  charts  and  deeds  speak  of  it  as  bounded  by  the 
"  mayne  sea."  The  history  of  the  Point  has  been  uneventful.  It  was  the 
site  of  encampments  in  1776,  as  a  remote  outer  vidette  of  the  insurgent 
Province.  About  the  year  1880  the  locality  was  discovered  by  the  sum- 
mer ramblers  ;  and  already  many  pretty  cottages  have  been  built  on  its 
lower  slopes,  and  many  scores  of  building-lots  are  for  sale,  since  the  pas- 
sage of  the  railway  along  the  side  of  the  great  hill  makes  the  locality  so 
readily  accessible. 

While  this  comely  summer  luxury  adorns  the  inner  side  of  the  penin- 
sular Point,  the  outer  side  presents  a  far  different  scene  to  the  storm- 
drenched  sailor,  whose  vessel  runs  into  the  harbor  on  a  snowy  winter  night, 
steering  fearfully  between  rock  and  shoal.  Many  a  good  ship  has  left  her 
bones  here,  to  be  gnawed  away  by  time  and  tide.     It  seems  as  if  the  great 


KING'S   HANDBOOK    OF   BOSTON   I /ARBOR. 


5' 


saints  in  whose  honor  the  Bay  was  originally  named  withdrew  their  protec- 
tion when  the  present  heathen  title  was  affixed  to  it;  for  many  serious 
disasters  took  place  herein  the  early  colonial  days.  One  of  the  first  relief- 
ships  of  the  Boston  colony,  the  Charity  of  Dartmouth,  a  vessel  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  tons,  well  laden  with  provisions,  was  driven  ashore  on 
Point  Allerton;  and  in  1636  the  barque  Warwick,  ten  guns,  was  wrecked 
here,  where  her  remains  were  seen  as  late  as  1804.  The  Warwick  sailed 
to  New  England  before  Gov.  Winthrop's  time,  having  been  sent  out  by 
Gorges  and    Mason    to  make  discoveries  ;  and  afterwards  came  within  a 


Hulk  of  the  Schooner  "  Passport,"  Little  Hog  Island. 


span  of  being  wrecked  on  the  Brewsters,  while  on  a  voyage  from  Ports- 
mouth to  Boston.  During  the  two  and  a  half  centuries  which  have  ensued, 
the  sea  has  thrown  many  a  costly  sacrifice  on  this  altar,  sweeping  off  their 
rich  cargoes  and  their  gallant  crews  into  the  deep  outer  gulfs.  There  are 
grim  old-time  traditions  of  false  lights  having  been  displayed  on  the  Point, 
with  intent  to  lure  vessels  to  destruction.  But  the  dangers  of  this  rocky 
elbow,  with  its  long  bars  projecting  like  traps,  need  no  human  malignity  to 
give  them  fatal  power.  From  a  part  of  the  wrecks  of  the  last  decade,  the 
circle  of  destruction  since  1630  may  be  imagined. 


52 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


In  1870  an  Italian  bark  was  wrecked  on  the  Point ;  and  all  but  one  of  the 
crew  perished  miserably  in  the  waves,  finding  hereaway  no  soft  Mediterra- 
nean breezes,  but  the  unrelenting  terror  of  the  storm-king  of  the  north. 
This  has  also  been  a  fatal  shore  for  East  Indiamen,  several  of  which  have 
here  found  the  end  of  their  long  voyages.  Here  the  Massasoit  was  lost, 
with  part  of  her  crew,  while  just  entering  the  home  harbor  after  the  wean- 
voyage  from  Calcutta;  and  her  cargo  of  indigo  and  hides  was  strewn  along 
the  beach  for  miles.  It  was  in  1872  that  the  barque  Kadosh,  from 
Manila,  came  ashore  here,  in  a  blinding  snowstorm;  and  her  captain  and 
seven  sailors  were  lost.  She  broke  up  immediately  on  the  fangs  of  those 
terrible  rocks;  and  her  cargo  of  sugar,  hemp,  and  sapan-wood  was  thrown 
up  along  the  beaches.  It  is  said  that  several  Cohasset  men  bought  sixteen 
hundred  bales  of  hemp,  floating  about  in  the  wreckage.     They  paid  one 


hundred 
and  forty 

dollars  for  it,  and  real- 
ized ten  thousand  dol- 
lars, —  a  very  pretty 
profit,  indeed,  for  the 
South-Shore  syndicate. 


__c-- 


Boston    Light  and  the   Brewsters, 
from   Point  Allerton. 


In  the  same 
storm  the  ship  Peru- 
vian and  the  barque 
Frauds,  both  bound  in 
from  Singapore,  were 
wrecked  on  the  other 
side  of    the    Bay.     The 


Pertivian  had  a  cargo  of  East-India  goods,  valued  at  one  million  dollars. 
A  year  later  the  Helen,  with  pine  timber  from  North  Carolina,  ran  on  to 
the  Point  in  a  tremendous  sea ;  but  its  crew  was  saved  by  a  life-boat  from 
the  shore,  manned  by  a  volunteer  party  of  the  bravest  of  the  brave.  It  is 
dangerous  to  approach  this  coast  in  a  small  boat,  even  on  quiet  days,  so 
formidable  are  the  rocks  and  shoals  off-shore  ;  but  to  make  a  landing  from 
the  reeling  and  splitting  deck  of  a  ship  stranded  on  the  bar  requires  super- 
human courage,  skill,  and  good  luck. 

The  splendid  sea-wall  which  defends  the  bluff  against  north-eastern  waves 
was  built  by  the  United  States,  at  a  cost  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  and  seems  calculated  to  defy  the  elements  for  centuries,  with  its 
long  lines  of  heavy  masonry.  Here  one  may  promenade  comfortably,  and 
without  fear  of  meeting  other  passers,  save  perhaps  a  sea-gull  or  a  butterfly. 


AT JVC'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR 


53 


Old  Gun,  from  the  Barque  "  Kadosh 


On  one  side  is  the  great  bluff,  rising  overhead  with  inaccessible  steepness  ; 
and  on  the  other  are  the  kelp-covered  rocks,  amongst  which  the  sea 
swashes  back  and  forth  ceaselessly.  Here  let  us  consider  the  legend  of 
this  locality,  as  it  was  sung  in  far  Norway  eight  centuries  ago. 

Many  famous  antiquaries  believe  (and  make  great  show  of  argument  to 
prove)  that  Point  Allerton  is   the 
locality    called    "Krossaness"    in  ,         I    J|  /*i| 

the  Icelandic  sagas,  where  the 
Viking  Thorwald  was  slain  and 
buried  in  the  year  1004.  He  was 
the  son  of  Eric  the  Red,  who 
sailed  from  Norway  to  Iceland, 
and  thence  (in  985)  to  Greenland, 
where  he  founded  a  colony  of 
warriors  and  heroes.  Thence  the 
leaders,  in  their  little  galleys,  made 
frequent  excursions  along  the  wild 
and  unknown  coasts  to  the  south- 
ward, seeking  some  new  Drontheim  Fiord  on  which  to  found  a  Norway 
of  the  West.  Thus  Thorwald  cruised  down  the  present  New-England 
coast,  finding  there  a  race  of  men  small  in  stature  and  yellow  in  color, 
very  much  like  the  Esquimaux.  The  victorious  advance  of  the  powerful 
red  men  from  the  mysterious  mountains  and  prairies  of  the  West  had  not 
yet  begun.  That  date  takes  us  well  back  into  history ;  for  it  was  before 
the  Norman  conquest  of  England,  or  the  First  Crusade,  or  the  Guelphs  and 
Ghibellines  had  been  heard  of,  or  Portugal,  Bohemia,  Switzerland,  or  Tur- 
key had  become  nations.  The 
Roman  Empire  still  survived  in 
the  East;  and,  in  the  West, 
King  Ethelred  was  vainly  trying 
to  beat  off  Sweyn's  fierce  Danes. 
Centuries  were  to  elapse  before 
Dante  wrote,  and  Giotto  painted, 
and  Rienzi  spoke,  and  Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion  swung  his  battle- 
axe. 
The  Icelandic  sagas  tell  how  Thorwald  sailed  from  the  point  he  called 
Kialamess  (Cape  Cod)  toward  the  mainland,  where  he  came  to  anchor  not 
far  from  a  hilly  promontory  overgrown  with  wood,  and  was  so  much  pleased 
with  the  place  that  he  exclaimed,  "  Here  it  is  beautiful,  and  here  I  should 
like  to  fix  my  abode."  He  met  there  nine  men  of  the  aborigines,  "  eight  of 
whom  they  killed,  but  the  ninth  escaped  in  his  canoe."     Some  time  after, 


On  Stony   Beach,   Hull. 


54 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


there  arrived  a  countless  number  of  canoes,  laden  with  Skraellings,  —  as  the 
Scandinavians  called  the  aborigines,  as  well  of  Greenland  as  of  Vinland, — 
and  a  battle  ensued.  It  was  the  first  bloodshed  between  Europeans  and 
the  indigenous  Americans.  The  Norse  battle-shields  were  arranged  along 
their  bulwarks ;  but  the  undaunted  Skraellings  fired  flights  of  arrows  at 
Thorwald  and  his  men  for  some  time,  and  then  quickly  retired.  After  the 
battle  Thorwald  asked  his  sailors  whether  any  of  them  had  been  wounded. 
Upon  their  denying  this,  he  said,  "  I  am !  I  have  an  arrow  under  my  arm, 
and  this  will  be  my  death-blow.  I  now  advise  you  to  prepare  for  your 
departure  as  soon  as  possible.  But  me  you  must  take  to  that  promontory 
where  I  thought  to  have  made  my  abode.  I  was  a  prophet.  For  now  1 
shall  dwell  there  forever.  There  you  shall  bury  me,  and  plant  there  two 
crosses,  one  at  my  head  and  one  at  my  feet,  and  call  the  place  Krossanei 
[the  promontory  of  the  crosses]  for  ali  time  coming."  Thorwald,  upon  this, 
died;  and  his  men  did  as  he  had  ordered  them. 

The  place  where  they  buried  him,  and  erected  the  crosses,  must  have 
been  one  of  the  headlands  not  far  south  of  Cape  Ann.  It  is  known  that  it 
was  near  the  harbor  of  Boston ;  and  the  only  question  at  issue  is,  whether  it 
was  Point  Allerton  or  the  Gurnet  (near  Plymouth).  De  Costa,  Dr.  Kohl, 
Guillot,  and  others,  favor  Allerton.  It  was  surely  a  worthy  burial-place 
for  a  Scandinavian  viking,  —  this  noble  and  lonely  height, — 

"Islanded  in  the  immeasurable  air." 


^— 


.    /;';■', 

gfe  .*■  1 

A 

t'i 

:%^\ 

\ 

7i^>?Bjfe-  ""-"" 

V--J-.-HP,- 

The  Norsemen's  Galley. 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  55 


NmttasUet  Bead). 

THE    ROCKLAND,  HOUSE,    HOTEL     NANTASKET,    AND    ATLANTIC    HOUSE.  — 
STRAWBERRY   HILL.  — BEACH    NOTES. 

ANTASKET  BEACH  faces  the  open  sea  for  a  length  of 
about  four  miles,  running  nearly  north-north-west,  slightly 
curved,  and  diversified  by  several  picturesque  hills  and  nar- 
row plains.  On  the  north,  it  ends  at  the  hills  which  form 
one  side  of  the  main  ship-channel  into  Boston  Harbor;  on 
the  south,  it  is  joined  to  the  mainland  of  Plymouth  County, 
the  venerable  and  historic  Old  Colony.  Upon  this  arm  of  sand,  hardly  more 
than  a  natural  breakwater,  with  the  restless  sea  on  one  side,  and  the  quiet 
waters  of  the  harbor  on  the  other,  is  the  summer  park  and  playground  of 
Boston ;  and  the  constantly  plying  steamboats  daily  land  thousands  of  peo- 
ple at  the  wharves  on  the  harbor  side,  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  the 
ocean.  The  downward  slope  of  the  beach  is  so  gradual  that  the  waves  have 
a  long  sweep  between  the  tides ;  and  the  wet  gray  sand  is  firm  and  hard, 
affording  secure  footing.  At  low  tide  a  splendid  boulevard,  many  rods  wide, 
lines  the  surf-side,  and  is  occupied  by  carriages  of  every  description,  driving 
along  this  highway  of  nature's  grading,  and  by  groups  of  urban  promenaders, 
moving  leisurely  up  and  clown  by  the  side  of  the  breaking  waves.  At  other 
seasons,  here  is  the  paradise  of  bathers,  who  scurry  down  from  all  manner 
of  adjacent  bath-houses,  clad  in  motley  garments  of  every  cut  and  hue,  and 
plunge  into  the  cold,  clear,  green  waves. 

On  all  the  long  miles  from  Atlantic  Hill  to  Point  Allerton,  the  beach  is 
unbroken,  —  a  wide  and  almost  level  belt  of  sand,  with  low  tufted  banks 
on  one  side,  and  the  curling  waves  on  the  other.  Looking  off  from  this 
large  section  of  her  eastern  front,  one  sees  how  just  was  the  conception  of 
the  ancient  Provincial  dignitaries,  who  tried  to  change  the  pagan  and  ineu- 
phonious  title  of  Massachusetts  to  Oceana.  Close  beside  is  the  sea,  in  all  its 
beauty  and  mystery. 

"  The  tide  slips  up  the  silver  sand, 
Dark  night  and  rosy  day  : 
It  brings  sea-treasures  to  the  land, 
Then  bears  them  all  away." 

The  development  of  Nantasket  as  a  summer  resort  has  been  a  work  of 
gradual  and  rational  extension,  advancing  through  many  decades  of  time. 


56  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

Nearly  a  century  ago  the  people  of  the  inland  towns  used  to  drive  down  to 
the  sands,  and  indulge  in  the  mild  dissoluteness  of  family  picnics ;  where, 
perchance,  they  discussed  the  contemporary  policy  of  President  Washington, 
the  campaigns  of  Austerlitz  and  Moscow,  the  dismemberment  of  Poland,  or 
the  daring  advance  of  New-England  colonists  into  the  vast  Ohio  wilderness. 
Gen.  Lincoln,  who  commanded  the  harbor-defences  during  the  Revolution, 
and  often  rode  across  from  Hingham  to  the  forts  at  Hull,  wrote  that  "  be- 
tween Nantasket  Neck,  so-called,  and  Point  Allerton,  is  a  beach  of  three 
miles,  very  hard,  and  a  pleasant  ride  in  summer."  In  1826  Mr.  Worrick 
opened  a  public  house  near  the  south  end  of  the  beach,  and  called  it  "  The 
Sportsman."  This  old-time  inn  (now  the  summer-home  of  Mr.  Damon) 
was  the  resort  of  Daniel  Webster,  and  other  distinguished  men,  during  the 
presidencies  of  Adams,  Jackson,  and  Tyler.  Soon  afterward  the  spacious 
mansion  now  owned  by  Mr.  R.  H.  White  became  a  summer  boarding-house. 

The  Rockland  House  was  established  in  1S54,  by  Col.  Nehemiah  Ripley, 
who  conducted  it  for  nearly  forty  years,  while  it  increased  from  40  rooms 
to  nearly  200,  and  from  a  plain  60-foot  front  to  an  imposing  facade  of  275 
feet.  In  its  early  years  the  average  number  of  visitors  to  the  beach  during 
a  pleasant  week  of  summer  was  200.  In  those  old  days  Thoreau  wrote : 
"  On  Nantasket  Beach  I  counted  a  dozen  chaises  from  the  public-house. 
From  time  to  time  the  riders  turned  their  horses  toward  the  sea,  —  standing 
in  the  water  for  the  coolness,  ■ —  and  I  saw  the  value  of  beaches  to  cities, 
for  the  sea-breeze  and  the  bath."  The  Rockland  was  successful  from  the 
first,  although  all  its  guests  had  to  be  brought  down  by  stage  from  Hing- 
ham. As  a  result  of  the  remodellings  and  improvements  of  so  many  years, 
the  hotel  is  now  one  of  the  best  and  most  commodious  on  the  coast,  with 
all  the  modern  necessities  of  aqueduct-water,  gas,  steam-heat,  richly  fur- 
nished parlors,  billiard-rooms,  music-rooms,  etc.  So  gradual  is  the  upward 
slope  of  the  wide  lawn,  from  the  beach  to  the  house,  that  it  does  not  seem 
to  be  on  a  height;  but  when  the  piazzas  are  reached,  the  splendid  view 
downward  and  outward,  across  the  verdant  glacis  to  the  blue  and  dazzling 
sea,  shows  how  marked  the  ascent  has  been.  The  Rockland  stands  close 
to  the  southern  end  of  the  great  beach,  and  also  not  far  from  the  steamboat- 
pier,  to  which  a  road  leads,  following  the  contour  of  the  hill.  The  land 
between  the  hotel  and  the  sea  is  divided  into  building-lots,  which  will  some 
time  be  occupied  by  ornate  cottages. 

The  Rockland  Cafe  is  situated  at  a  respectful  distance  from  the  great 
hotel,  at  the  head  of  the  main  road  leading  from  the  steamboat-pier,  and 
close  upon  the  edge  of  the  beach.  It  exists  for  the  convenience  of  the 
great  crowds  of  transients  who  visit  Nantasket ;  and  is  an  airy  and  attrac- 
tive building  of  large  area,  with  wide  piazzas,  dining-halls,  parlors,  dancing- 
hall,   bowling-alleys,   shooting-galleries,    swings,    and    other   accessories    to 


ICING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR, 


57 


t  %M 

<sy0  of?  o 


58 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


divert  the  mind  from  too-engrossing  contemplation  of  the  grandeur  of  Na- 
ture. Yet  even  the  dancers  and  bowlers  and  diners  —  in  the  intervals  of 
their  amusements  —  may  look  off  over  the  cool  sea,  into  — 

'  The  ever-silent  spaces  of  the  East, 
Far-folded  mists,  and  gleaming  halls  of  mom." 


^g^ffiajlipfej 


kk^-K^ 

The  Atlantic,  from  the  Hills. 


The  Atlantic  — 
— *  from  THE.  BeflCH    '•'•■   -— 

A  long  arcade,  ex- 
tending parallel  with 
the  surf  line,  roofed, 
floored,  and  lined  with 
seats,  joins  the  Rock- 
land Cafe  to  the  Hotel 
Nantasket,  both  being 
under  one  manage- 
ment. The  former  is  devoted  mainly  to  fish-dinners  and  chowders ;  the 
latter  exhausts  all  the  resources  of  the  market  to  furnish  out  its  luxurious 
tables  with  choice  game,  meats,  and  other  attributes  of  a  metropolitan  menu. 
The  Hotel  Nantasket  is  the  Aladdin's  Palace  of  this  region,  —  a  new 
and  beautiful  house,  half  pavilion  and  half  hotel,  rich  in  towers,  gables,  and 
balconies,  and  fretting  the  sky  with  scores  of  pinnacles.  It  is  charmingly 
irregular  in  shape,  and  unique  in  architecture,  and  in  many  other  ways 
attractive  to  the  casual  visitor.  Toward  the  sea  is  the  band-stand,  where 
the  famous  Cadet  Band  of  Boston  renders  sweet  music,  overpowering  even 


^7" 


.1      ^     \  U\„        \ 

"  v.  ,J         \    \  ,     V 


f    X 


n^s  Mil 


Pi 

;f  /  ;  -fW  I'M'iv'^MAiilhl  Will 


ff.//.M' ::     mil '  « 111  ->  ' 


)        «- 


III  Ml"  Hi  "r  "\    ■> 


60  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  deep  monotone  of  the  neighboring  surf.  Broad  platforms,  promenades, 
and  piazzas  line  the  front ;  and  heroic  and  costly  attempts  are  made  to 
plant  here  gardens,  English  parterres,  lines  of  trees,  and  beds  of  geraniums. 
The  hotel  is  conducted  on  the  European  plan,  and  mainly  devoted  to  the 
use  of  transient  guests,  although  a  certain  number  of  regular  boarders  are 
accommodated  in  the  airy  rooms  up-stairs,  above  the  great  dining-halls. 
Extensive  plans  for  the  beautifying  of  the  adjacent  lands  have  been  made 
by  Bowditch,  the  expert  landscape-gardener.  The  scene  in  the  vicinity,  on 
a  fair  summer  evening,  is  truly  bewildering  in  its  brilliancy  and  fulness  of 
life.  Electric  lights  banish  the  darkness,  the  music  of  the  band  floats  over 
the  beach  and  plain,  the  cool  and  bracing  breath  of  the  sea  dispels  the 
parching  heats  of  the  day;  and  thousands  of  happy  visitors  regale  them- 
selves with  the  choicest  viands  and  beverages,  merrily  chatting,  and  waited 
on  by  a  small  army  of  negro  servants.  Here  is  the  nineteenth  century  at 
sport,  the  modern  table  of  Lucullus,  the  temple  of  gastronomy  and  social 
mirth. 

As  the  evening  grows  old,  the  rising  winds  from  the  Bay  overpower  the 
smoke  of  countless  Havanas,  the  fusillade  of  corks  drops  into  a  desultory 
skirmish  fire,  the  deep  roll  of  the  waves  booms  through  the  pianissimi  of 
the  band,  and  the  invigorated  citizens  and  citoyennes  seek  the  neighboring 
railway-station  and  steamboat-pier,  and  within  a  short  hour  are  in  Boston. 
Thus  also  retire  Patrick  and  Michael,  from  the  roystering  saloons  toward 
Sagamore  Hill ;  and  Timon  and  Zenobia,  the  lovers  of  Nature,  who  have 
rambled  along  the  beach  until  their  shoes  are  full  of  sand. 

It  is  said  that  there  is  a  beach  near  the  city  of  New  York,  with  more 
than  one  hotel  not  unlike  this ;  but  the  true  Nantasketer  accepts  this  state- 
ment with  much  kindly  doubting.  A  tart  New-York  newspaper  remarks, 
nevertheless,  that  "  Bostonians  are  justly  proud  of  Nantasket  Beach,  where 
one  can  get  cultured  clams,  intellectual  chowder,  refined  lager,  and  very 
scientific  pork  and  beans.  ...  It  is  far  superior  to  our  monotonous  sand- 
beach,  in  its  picturesqueness  of  natural  beauty,  in  the  American  character 
of  the  visitors,  and  in  the  reasonableness  of  hotel-charges  and  the  excel- 
lence of  the  service." 

The  Atlantic  House  crowns  the  bold  rocky  ridge  which  makes  out  into 
the  sea,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  beach,  and  is  the  most  conspicuous 
object  in  the  views  from  distant  points,  with  its  lofty  roofs  and  striking 
forms  of  architecture.  It  is  an  immense  building,  with  rich  parlors,  broad 
piazzas,  and  attractive  surroundings,  and  has  always  been  well-filled  with 
guests  during  long  summer  seasons.  The  view  hence  is  very  grand,  includ- 
ing a  long  reach  of  the  South  Shore,  picturesque  and  island-dotted  sections 
of  the  harbor,  the  entire  extent  of  Nantasket  Beach,  and  an  illimitable 
expanse  of  open  sea.     It  is  a  prospect  so  diversified,  so  replete  with  ele- 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


6 1 


merits  of  nobility,  so  alluring,  that  one  never  wearies  of  it.  If  Peepy 
Marshmallow  in  her  easy-chair  on  the  piazz.a  tires  of  her  embroidery,  or  of 
Birdie's  gossip  about  the  last  ball,  she  has  but  to  lift  her  pretty  eyes,  and 
the  fairest  panorama  of  sea  and  sky  lies  spread  out  before  her.  From 
many  points  in  Boston,  Roxbury,  and  Dorchester,  this  stately  Palace  of 
Indolence  is  seen,  with  its  gables  cutting  sharply  against  the  eastern  sky. 

The  rocky  eminence  whereon  the  hotel  stands  is  known  as  Atlantic  Hill, 
and  is  also  occupied  by  several  handsome  cottages.  Around  its  landward 
side  runs  Atlantic  Avenue,  which  was  laid  out  in  1873,  and  leads  from  the 
beach  to  Nantasket  Lake,  and  thence  connects  with  the  road  to  Hingham. 
Just    south    of    Atlantic    Hill    is    Centre    Hill,  rocky  and    sea-beaten,  with 


Crescent   Beach 


several  small  hotels  and  cottages.  Farther  along  stands  the  handsome 
New  Pacific  Hotel,  a  large  modern  house,  on  a  bold  cliff  over  the  sea. 
Close  at  hand  on  the  west  is  Nantasket  Lake  (until  recently  known  as  Straits 
Pond),  a  singular  lagoon  two  miles  long,  on  which  boat  and  tub  races  and 
other  aquatic  sports  are  often  conducted.  This  rather  pretty  sheet  of  water 
has  been  suspected  of  malarial  influences ;  and  the  contiguous  towns  spend 
considerable  sums  upon  it  yearly,  in  the  interests  of  sanitation.  In  old 
times  it  was  known  as  Lake  Galilee,  and  Atlantic  Hill  bore  the  name  of 
Mount  Zion ;  certain  reverend  pilgrims,  returning  from  the  Holy  Land, 
having  reported  that  the  hills  of  this  region  bore  a  singular  resemblance 
to  those  of   Palestine.     From  the  craggy  peninsula  of  Gun  Rock,  whose 


62  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

hotel  was  destroyed  by  fire  not  long  ago,  Crescent  Beach  extends  toward 
Green  Hill,  and  is  largely  occupied  by  the  cottages  of  Bridgewater  and 
Abington  manufacturers,  and  other  inland  citizens.  Many  years  ago  this 
was  a  strip  of  farm-land  and  pasturage  ;  but  successive  storms  have  reduced 
it  to  a  pebbly  beach,  between  Nantasket  Lake  and  the  sea.  Here,  also,  are 
three  or  four  small  hotels  and  boarding-houses.  Beyond  lies  Green  Hill, 
a  high  and  graceful  promontory,  projecting  into  the  blue  ocean,  towards 
Black  Rock,  and  occupied  by  many  neat  cottages,  whose  windows  and 
piazzas  command  exquisite  marine  views.  In  one  of  these  secluded  houses, 
haunted  by  bobolinks  and  robins,  dwells  the  author  who  (in  her  "Boston- 
Journal  "  letters)  has  interpreted  more  clearly  the  spirit  of  Nantasket  than 
any  other  writer. 

Yonder  is  the  famous  old  Black-Rock  House,  from  which  the  Jerusalem 
Road  runs  for  miles  down  the  coast,  toward  Cohasset,  high  on  the  cliffs, 
lined  with  costly  marine  villas,  and  rich  in  inspiring  views  over  leagues  of 
open  sea.  Nothing  this  side  of  the  Riviera  can  compare  with  this  avenue 
of  vistas.  You  may  thus  enter  the  Old  Colony,  and  pass  by  Daniel  Web- 
ster's farm  at  Marshfield,  and  Standish's  high  tower  at  Duxbury,  and  the 
graves  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  and  so  out  into  the  primeval  and  deer- 
haunted  forests  toward  Cape  Cod. 

Sagamore  Hill  rises  from  the  beach  between  Atlantic  Hill  and  Straw- 
berry Hill,  not  far  from  the  Weir-River  steamboat-pier;  and  its  far-viewing 
crest  is  occupied  by  several  cottages  and  a  picnic-garden,  not  unknown  to 
Sunday-school  excursions,  and  affluent  in  swings,  pavilions,  and  other 
appurtenances  of  summer-day  joys.  On  this  height  one  of  the  ancient 
Indian  sachems  had  his  wigwam,  and  held  his  savage  court;  and  great 
councils  of  the  harbor  clans  were  held  here.  Many  remains  of  their  camps 
and  gatherings  have  been  found  in  the  vicinity.  Along  the  seaward  foot  of 
the  hill  straggles  a  motley  group  of  small  hotels,  cafes  (so-called),  and  cot- 
tages, lining  the  edge  of  the  beach  for  a  considerable  distance.  Among 
them  is  a  large  hall,  sacred  to  fish-dinners  and  clam-bakes,  where  may  be 
seen  the  original  Rhode-Island  method  of  cooking  the  favorite  bivalves, 
buried  amongst  hot  stones,  and  covered  with  sea-weed.  To  the  northward 
the  long  promontory  of  White  Head  projects  into  the  harbor,  with  many 
dreary  undulations  and  abandoned  fields.  Its  chief  productions  are  hay 
and  birds. 

Strawberry  Hill  is  a  conspicuous  elevation,  nearly  midway  between 
Sagamore  Hill  and  Point  Allerton,  rising  like  a  great  wall  across  the  beach- 
plains,  and  extending  from  the  harbor  almost  to  the  line  of  the  breakers. 
It  is  said  that  strawberries  once  abounded  in  the  vicinity,  and  gave  reason 
for  the  name  of  the  hill.  The  old  barn  on  its  summit  is  a  well-known  land- 
mark for  pilots  off  the  coast.     Here  centre  the  official  surveys  and  triangu- 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  63 

lations  of  the  harbor,  for  the  elevation  is  so  considerable  and  so  isolated 
that  it  gives  a  prospect  of  vast  extent  and  beauty.  On  this  site  stood  a 
very  large  barn,  in  1775;  and  it  contained  eighty  tons  of  hay,  which  the 
Americans  burned,  to  grieve  the  British  garrison  of  Boston.  The  harbor 
was  splendidly  illuminated  by  these  patriotic  flames.  The  south  side  of 
the  hill  appears  very  steep ;  but  the  ascent  from  the  north  is  easy,  and  leads 
up  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Sea-Foam  House  to  the  airy  crest,  whence  one 

may  see,  afar, 

"  The  tides  of  grass  break  into  foam  of  flowers, 
And  the  wind's  feet  shine  along  the  sea." 

The  plains  extending  toward  Point  Allerton  have  been  called  "  the  Bel- 
gium of  the  neighboring  tribes  in  savage  times ;  "  and  there  are  traditions 
of  many   sanguinary  battles    having   been  fought  thereon.      Probably  the 


Wreck  on    Nantasket.  .  "'"•'■■  >&,\  •*■  ■  £■>■ 

harbor    Indians    chose    this  as  a  %  *  -  -  "■'""'■■^a.''-  -'  " L ; ' ': !      ; ~  j 

favorable  point  to  attack  the  Tar- 
ratines,  who  used  to  make  pitiless  forays  hereabouts,  in  their  fleets  of  swift 
sea-going  canoes.  On  and  near  Skull  Head,  great  numbers  of  human  bones 
have  been  found,  with  arrow-heads,  tomahawks,  and  other  weapons  of  war. 
When  the  English  first  came  into  these  parts,  the  plains  were  held  as  com- 
mons of  the  people  of  Hull.  Two  hundred  years  later  (or  about  1840),  the 
county  of  Plymouth  bought  this  almost  worthless  territory,  and  resold  it,  at 
a  handsome  advance,  to  Litchfield,  Ripley,  Wheatland,  and  other  speculative 
gentlemen.  After  costly  litigation,  the  plains  have  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  Nantasket  Land  Company,  and  are  laid  out  in  streets  and  avenues, 
along  which  cottage-lots  are  offered  for  sale.  There  are  four  well-graded 
avenues  parallel  with  the  beach,  crossed  by  many  streets  running  east  and 
west  —  designated  by  letters.  Promising  clusters  of  Swiss  cottages  have 
already  been  erected,  most  of  which  are  leased  to  summer  visitors  at  from 
two  hundred  to  four  hundred  dollars  for  the  season.  Several  thousand 
shade-trees  have  been  set  out  along  the  avenues  ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  this 
narrow  sea-blown  plain  will  sometime  become  a  great  cottage  city,  inhabited 


64  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

by  families  who  wish  to  avoid  the  vast  hosts  of  transient  visitors  overflowing 
other  localities  on  the  beach.  Although  it  has  many  natural  advantages, 
the  embryo  town  does  not  yet  compete  with  Newport  or  Oak  Bluffs  in  pros- 
perity, or  with  Chautauqua  or  Old  Orchard  in  tranquil  pietistic  fervors.  As 
the  Independent  Corps  of  Cadets  have  not  been  in  the  habit  of  encamping 
here,  the  climate  remains  unspoiled  ;  and  it  seems  only  necessary  for  the 
Land  Company  to  devise  some  new  and  original  attraction,  say  a  summer 
school  of  poetry,  or  an  Episcopalian  camp-meeting  ground,  to  cover  these 
charming  lowlands  with  the  desired  cottages. 

On  the  harbor-side  is  a  pier,  which  is  visited  many  times  daily  by  steam- 
boats from  Boston ;  and  near  by,  about  fifteen  hundred  feet  from  the  sea, 
stands  the  spacious  Sea-Foam  House,  which  was  built  in  1870,  and,  after 
passing  through  many  vicissitudes,  now  keeps  open  hall  for  summer  travel- 
lers. Close  to  the  sea  are  several  smaller  hotels  and  restaurants,  once  freely 
patronized  by  excursionists  from  Boston  and  inland,  but  recently  closed  (for 
the  most  part)  by  the  Land  Company,  in  order  to  secure  a  more  thorough 
quiet  and  decorum  for  this  region.  The  summer  village  near  Strawberry 
Hill  is  locally  known  as  Hoba?'tville,  and  is  quite  distinct  from  the  adjacent 
settlements  at  the  north  and  south  ends  of  the  beach.  Steamboats  began 
to  run  to  this  point  in  1867,  during  which  year  the  First  Brigade  of  militia 
held  its  annual  encampment  here,  and  was  reviewed  by  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler. 
A  project  has  been  developed  of  crowning  Strawberry  Hill  with  a  hotel  of 
a  thousand  rooms ;  but  probably  it  will  not  be  realized  until  the  twentieth 
century  is  well  along.  The  plains  near  the  north  part  of  the  beach  have 
been  aptly  described  thus  :  "  It  is  a  desert  of  sage-brush,  as  like  the  alkali 
wastes  of  Nevada  as  any  thing  so  limited  can  be.  The  sand  around  is 
white  as  salt;  and  the  stunted  gray  growth  covers  it  close,  except  where  here 
and  there  a  hand's  breadth  of  oasis  in  the  shape  of  a  clump  of  green  bushes 
breaks  the  sameness.  The  sea  is  so  far  off,  and  you  are  on  such  a  dead 
level,  that  it  shows  not  much  more  than  a  blue  line."  Arid  as  these  plains 
are,  they  have  given  rise  to  a  great  amount  of  controversy  among  the  old 
Puritan  yeomen.  In  1641  Hingham  and  Nantasket  (Hull)  contested  about 
a  part  of  the  beach  lands,  and  Joseph  Peck  was  the  leader  of  the  Hingham 
agitators.  Certain  citizens  made  the  following  deposition,  "  That  which  wee 
doe  testifie  Concerninge  mr  Peck  his  Speech  is  this,  That  wee  heard  hime 
Say,  That  pride  and  malice  were  the  foundation  that  sett  us  a  worke  about 
Nantascett,  and  if  that  were  the  foundation  it  would  easily  apeare  What  the 
buildinge  Would  be  ;  alsoe  that  we  did  Conspire  together  about  it,  and  it  was 
like  unto  those  that  Conspired  together  to  kill  Paul."  In  1643  the  General 
Court  ordained  thus  :  "  The  former  grant  to  Nantascot  was  again  voted  and 
confirmed,  and  Hingham  was  willed  to  forbear  troubling  the  Court  anymore 
about  Nantascot."     This  law  still  remains  upon  the  statute-books  of  Mas- 


KING'S  HAND  BOO  A'   OF  BOSTON  II A  R BO R. 


65 


sachusetts,  and  has  been  called  into  service  within  five  years,  when  Hing- 
ham  had  again  taken  issue  with  Hull,  and  the  selectmen  of  die  latter  town 
threatened  an  appeal  to  the  law  of  1643. 

Over  this  silent  heath,  in  the  remote  days  when  the  only  visitors  to  Nan- 
tasket  were  sportsmen,  Daniel  Webster  often  rambled,  with  gun  on  shoul- 
der, in  search  of  birds.  At  night,  thoroughly  tired,  he  would  seek  sweet  sleep 
at  the  little  inn  at  Hull.  His  biographer  testifies  that  "  he  was  a  keen 
sportsman.  Until  past  the  age  of  sixty-five  he  was  a  capital  shot;  and  the 
feathered  game  in  his  neighborhood  was,  of  course,  purely  wild.  He  used 
to  say,  after  he  had  been  in  England,  that  shooting  in  '  preserves '  seemed  to 
him  very  much  like  going  out  and  murdering  the  barn-door  fowl.     His  shoot- 


the  wild  duck,  and  the 
frequent  the  coast  of 
would  he  unmoor  his 
line  and  sinker,'  for  a 
haddock,  without  having 
Pharsalia,  in  the  pocket 
for   the  '  still  and  silent 


ing  was  of  the  woodcock, 
various  marsh-birds  that 
New  England.  .  .  .  Nor 
dory  with  his  'bob  and 
haul  of  cod  or  hake  or 
Ovid,  or  Agricola,  or 
of  his  old  gray  overcoat, 
hour'  upon  the  deep." 

When  freed  from  the 
cares  of  diplomacy  and 
statecraft,  and  happily  re- 
moved from  the  throngs 
of  politicians  which  even 
then  filled  the  little  city 
by  the  Potomac,  he 
seemed  to  desire  seclu- 
sion in  such  a  place  as 
Jeremiah  describes  :  "  A 
land  that  no  man  passed 
through,    and   where    no 

man  dwelt."'  Here,  in  the  immense  solitude,  amid  the  pure  spiritual  air, 
with  the  solemn  roll  of  the  sea  beating  without  cease  near  by,  some  of  his 
noblest  thoughts  were  conceived,  and  prepared  for  such  utterance  as  would 
electrify  the  nation.  It  is  a  tradition  in  Boston,  that  he  thought  out  his 
celebrated  apostrophe  to  the  veterans  of  Bunker  Hill  while  fishing  in  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  and  first  delivered  it  to  a  gigantic  codfish  which  he  just  then 
drew  from  the  waves.  In  the  annals  of  oratory,  Nantasket  should  hold 
as  honorable  a  place  as  that  Greek  beach  whence  Demosthenes  flung  his 
noble  sentences  into  the  senseless  storm. 

On  this  famous  strip  of  coast,  from  Point  Allerton  to  the  Jerusalem  Road, 
there  are  many  objects  of  interest,  for  visitors  of  different  temperaments, 


A  Storm  at  Minot's   Ledge. 


66  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

and  many  scenes  in  varying  moods  of  sea  and  sky,  which  arouse  emotions 
of  diverse  kinds.  Sir  Arthur  Helps  well  says  "  that  the  traveller  will  often 
find  an  exquisite  delight  in  what  the  guide-books  pass  by  with  indifference ; " 
and  nowhere  is  the  remark  so  applicable  as  in  a  place  like  this,  which  is  vis- 
ited for  any  purpose  rather  than  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 

As  many  as  three-fourths  of  the  excursionists  land  at  the  pier  in  Weir 
River,  or  alight  at  the  adjacent  railway-station,  and  seek  their  recreation  on 
the  southern  mile  of  the  beach,  between  Atlantic  Hill  and  Sagamore  Hill; 
and  it  is  on  this  stretch  that  the  largest  amount  of  human  interest  may  be 
found. 

The  emotions  of  Peter  Peregrine,  forty  years  ago,  were  so  similar  to 
those  of  myriads  of  other  visitors,  that  they  may  well  be  reported  here : 
"The  Nantasket  beach  is  the  most  beautiful  I  ever  saw.  It  sweeps  round 
in  a  majestic  curve,  which,  if  it  were  continued  so  as  to  complete  the  circle, 
would  of  itself  embrace  a  small  sea.  There  was  a  gentle  breeze  upon  the 
water,  and  the  sluggish  waves  rolled  inward  with  a  languid  movement,  and 
broke,  with  a  low  murmur  of  music,  in  long  lines  of  foam  against  the  oppos- 
ing sands.  The  surface  of  the  sea  was,  in  every  direction,  thickly  dotted  with 
sails,  the  air  was  of  a  delicious  temperature,  and  altogether  it  was  a  scene  to 
detain  one  for  hours." 

Forever  gone  are  the  days  he  chronicled,  when  the  Norfolk-County  and 
Old-Colony  farmers  and  villagers  drove  down  the  fragrant  country  roads  to 
the  lonely  beach,  with  their  old-fashioned  families,  and  made  huge  kettles  of 
spicy  chowder  over  drift-wood  fires,  while  the  delighted  children  raced  bare- 
foot over  the  wet  sands,  and  bathed  in  the  gentle  waves.  All  is  now  changed ; 
and  the  beach  has  a  half-dozen  crowded  hamlets,  a  score  of  hotels,  a  daily 
newspaper,  an  aquarium,  a  score  of  shops,  avenues  and  parks,  sewers  and 
aqueducts,  and  other  appliances  of  our  luxurious,  complex,  and  painful  mod- 
ern civilization.  Here  now  appear  the  flying  horses,  goat-wagons,  and 
Punch-and-Judy  shows  of  the  city  parks  ;  and  innumerable  peddlers  of  can- 
dies and  fruits,  peanuts  and  pop-corn,  pink  lemonade  and  foaming  beer, 
whips  and  fans,  small  red  balloons,  and  other  incomprehensible  adjuncts  of 
modern  festal  days  and  places.  Now  there  are  all  manner  of  excursions  en 
masse,  armies  of  basket-bearers  from  Worcester  and  Berkshire,  and  even 
from  farthest  Albany ;  lodges  and  encampments  of  mystical  organizations, 
yearly  dwindling  societies  of  veterans  of  the  Secession  War,  cohorts  of  Hi- 
bernian merry-makers,  the  banded  populations  of  Weymouths  and  Bridge- 
waters  and  Braintrees  without  number.  Howells  also  tells  us  of  a  loftily 
philanthropic  society  in  Boston,  demonstrating  that  "ten  thousand  poor 
children  could  be  transported  to  Nantasket  Beach,  and  bathed,  clam-baked, 
and  lemonaded  three  times  during  the  summer,  at  a  cost  so  small  that  it 
was  a  saving  to  spend  the  money." 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


6/ 


At  the  arrival  of  the  late  afternoon  boats  the  long  pier  is  covered  with  all 
manner  of  barges,  wagons,  and  carriages,  which  presently  dash  away  over 
the  adjacent  roads,  bearing  to  their  summer  homes  groups  of  happy  citizens. 
When  .Ripley  first  suggested  that  the  steamboats  should  come  directly  to 
the  beach,  by  ascending  the  narrow  and  crooked  channels  of  Weir  River, 
he  was  saluted  with  guffaws  of  laughter.  But  he  persevered,  and  in  1868 
the  first  steamer  crept  cautiously  up  the  devious  stream,  and  tied  up  at  the 
new  pier.  Now  seven  boats  each  way  daily  are  hardly  enough  for  the  sum- 
mer visitors.  Their  straggling  and  many-colored  columns  move  from  the 
pier  or  railway-station  to  the  edge  of  the  beach,  and  there  melt  away  in 


New  Pacific  Hotel 


squads  ;  some  drifting  down  to  the  edge  of  the  surf;  others  seeking  the  kindly 
shelter  of  adjacent  restaurants,  whose  broad  roofs  and  open  sides  insure  shade 
and  free  air;  and  others  settling  on  the  sands,  with  the  venerable  family 
umbrella  and  the  crammed  family  lunch-basket  to  comfort  them.  The  vast 
beach  seems  unchanged  by  their  presence ;  for  it  has  room  for  millions,  and 
here  are  but  a  few  thousands,  here  and  there  a  few  black  dots  on  the  glis- 
tening gray  plain.  Yet  each,  in  his  own  way,  is  drinking  in  new  life,  and 
feeling  the  joy  of  an  unwonted  experience.  He  will  return  homeward  at 
evening,  reddened  by  sun  and  wind,  tired  in  every  muscle,  perhaps  a  trifle 
confused  in  digestion  ;  but  a  sound  sleep  awaits  him,  and  an  awakening  to  a 
new  day  of  vigor. 


68  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

We  are  assured  by  Homer  that  Hercules  delighted  in  banquets  (he  wan- 
dered far  on  the  Mediterranean  beaches);  and  so  the  Bostonian  turns  with 
confidence  to  the  feasts  in  the  adjacent  shore-houses,  from  the  humble 
chowders  of  the  multitude  to  the  epicurean  repasts  of  the  great  hotels. 
Other  groups,  the  rustic  swains  in  whose  breasts  all  the  storms  of  the 
equinox  cannot  quench  the  flame  of  love,  seek  the  rocks  at  the  foot  of 
Atlantic  Hill,  and  there  divide  into  sequestered  pairs,  and  enjoy  the  sweets 
of  bucolic  courtship.  Others,  disguised  in  the  unmitigable  hideousness  of 
bathing-suits,  rush  down  over  the  sands,  and  enter  the  waves,  where,  with 
many  outcries  and  a  nervous  hilarity,  they  endure  the  buffets  of  the  mighty 
Atlantic.  There  are  hundreds  who  avail  themselves  of  the  bath-houses, 
which  line  the  crest  of  the  beach,  toward  Sagamore  Hill.  Here,  for  a 
trifling  fee,  one  may  secure  a  small  wooden  cell,  in  which  to  doff  the  habili- 
ments of  civilization,  and  don  the  scantier  apparel  appropriate  for  a  prome- 
nade in  the  surf.  The  waters  of  the  Massachusetts  sea  are  always  cold, 
and  give  a  sharp  shock  to  the  bather;  but  he  who  takes  a  fearless  header 
through  the  first  approaching  wall  of  surf,  and  then  battles  sturdily  with 
the  successive  rollers  for  a  few  minutes  (not  exceeding  ten),  will  come  out 
with  a  splendid  glow  of  health,  a  keen  appetite,  and  a  sense  of  renovation. 
Michelet  attributes  the  revivification  of  the  worn-out  English  race  to  the 
discovery  of  the  medicinal  virtues  of  sea-bathing,  which  was  first  com- 
mended by  the  learned  Dr.  Russell,  in  1750.  "It  is  necessary,"  he  said, 
"  to  drink  sea-water,  to  bathe  in  sea-water,  and  to  eat  sea-weed ;  clothe 
your  children  as  lightly  as  possible,  and  let  them  have  plenty  of  air. 
The  ocean  breeze  and  the  ocean  water ;  there  you  have  the  sure  cure." 
This  heroic  treatment,  recommended  first  for  glandular  wasting,  has  since 
been  found  efficacious  in  a  hundred  other  forms  of  sickness,  debility,  and 
decadence.  There  are  many  bath-houses  at  Hull  and  Downer  Landing, 
also,  where  the  water  is  much  warmer  than  that  off  the  beach,  and  produces 
very  little  shock  to  the  delicate  system.  There  bathers  remain  in  the  quiet 
(yet  salty  and  iodated)  waters  for  twice  or  thrice  as  many  minutes  as  they 
could  in  the  chilling  surf,  "  that  hell  of  cold,  which,  in  its  re-action,  gives 
such  a  glow  of  heat." 

The  life  of  the  hotels  and  the  drift  of  excursionists,  great  as  they 
appear,  are  rapidly  falling  into  the  background,  by  reason  of  the  increase 
of  the  cottagers.  The  prices  at  the  chief  public-houses  are  rather  high  for 
the  average  citizen  to  bear  throughout  a  season,  and  the  smaller  hotels  here 
are  almost  uniformly  very  shabby  affairs ;  so  that  Paterfamilias  finds  it 
expedient  to  build  or  lease  a  snug  little  place  for  his  family,  and  transfer 
hither  the  housekeeping  essentials  from  his  city  home.  From  one  end  of 
the  beach  to  the  other  new  cottages  are  rising  every  year,  brilliant  with 
fresh  paint,  and  exemplifying  every  form  of  architecture.     The  clatter  of 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


69 


hammers  resounds  on  every  side.  "  There  are  big  houses  and  little,  houses 
like  the  Chinese  pagodas  in  old  Canton  blue  ware,  houses  like  castles  with 
towers  and  battlements,  houses  like  nests,  and  houses  like  barracks ;  houses 
with  seven  gables,  and  houses  with  none  at  all.  It  is  marvellous  what 
pretty  interiors  some  of  these  nondescript,  plain-boarded,  deal-floored,  rough- 
hewn  cabins  make,  and  what  good  effects  a  few  common  stage  properties 
create."  In  such  sheds,  huts,  villas,  and  mansions  do  the  citizens  "loaf, 
and  invite  their  souls,"  relapsing  a  little  way  toward  our  original  and  happier 
barbarism.  There  is  the  sea,  and  that  is  the  main  thing.  Even  Hawthorne 
once  said,  "  Oh  that  Providence  would  give  me  the  merest  little  shanty, 

and  mark  me  out  a  rood  or 
two  of  garden-ground,  near 
the  sea-coast !  "  and  again, 
"  1  am  going  to  begin  to  en- 
joy the  summer  now,  and  to 
read  foolish  novels,  if  I  can 


get  any,  and  smoke 
cigars,  and  think  of 
nothing  at  all."  With 
such  deep  designs 
thousands  of  inland 
people  come  hither, 
and  in  their  little  cab- 
ins live  a  life  of  dolce 
far  niente  for  a  few 

weeks.  On  the  unoccupied  headlands,  and  along  the  delightfully  pictur- 
esque rocky  shores  of  Weir  River,  as  far  up  as  Ringbolt  Rock  and  River- 
side, there  are  hundreds  of  people  encamped  in  tents,  week  after  week, 
with  small  boats  and  yachts  off  shore,  and  camp-kettles  swung  gypsy-wise 
over  their  drift-wood  fires. 

All  seasons  (except  the  infrequent  days  of  still  heat)  have  a  charm  for 
the  true  Nantasketers.  Hear  how  one  of  these  optimists  extracts  comfort 
from  elemental  gloom  :  "  There  is,  besides,  a  cleanliness  in  our  foggy  days,  — 
an  absence  of  sticky  mud  under  foot,  a  fresher  green  on  the  grass,  a  pearl- 
ing of  dew  on  the  small  forests  of  weeds,  that  is  in  itself  charming.  .  .  . 
And  such  a  harmony  of  grayness,  such  a  symphony  of  blended  shades,  from 


7<D  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  white  of  pure  light  to  the  black  of  thunder-cloud,  even  .Whistler  himself 
never  imagined."  The  blithe  spirit  which  finds  such  comfort  in  a  damp 
gray  fog  must  be  aroused  to  ecstasy  by  the  fair  early  hours,  filled  with  the 
freshness  of  morning ;  or  the  breezy  afternoon,  when  easterly  winds  carry 
the  savor  of  the  sea  abroad ;  or  the  sunset,  unspeakably  brilliant  in  the 
west,  and  filling  the  east  with  violet  shadows ;  or  the  white  moonlight, 
adorning  ocean  and  shore  with  mysterious  beauty ;  or  the  intermittent  starry 
midnight,  when  the  last  reveller  has  sought  his  troubled  sleep,  and  the 
solemn  anthem  of  the  breaking  surf  rolls  on  through  the  darkness. 

During  the  heavy  easterly  gales  of  the  winter,  vast  quantities  of  kelp 
and  sea-weed  are  thrown  upon  the  shore.  This  material  is  valuable  for 
fertilizing  farm-lands,  and  a  single  gale  has  piled  up  here  upwards  of  ten 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  it.  In  some  places  the  heaps  are  five  feet  high 
and  fifty  feet  long,  and  hide  the  sand  for  great  distances.  At  the  same  time 
myriads  of  sea-clams  and  quahaugs  are  torn  from  their  submarine  homes, 
and  landed  on  the  beach,  where  they  are  gathered  into  baskets  by  the  South- 
Shore  men.  These  worthies  inherit  the  taste  of  their  Indian  predecessors, 
of  whom  it  was  said,  "  The  Salvages  are  much  taken  with  the  delight  of 
this  fishe  [clams] ;  and  are  not  cloyed,  notwithstanding  the  plenty."  In 
winter,  also,  huge  piles  of  snow  and  drift-ice  line  the  high-water  mark,  pre- 
senting an  aspect  of  fierce  desolation  and  grandeur.  More  grim  and  repul- 
sive even  than  the  high-crested  sea,  or  the  ruin-heaped  strand,  are  the 
deserted  summer  villages,  abandoned  to  the  gales,  and  relieved  by  no  en- 
tourage of  trees,  or  pleasant  suggestion  of  smoking  chimneys.  This  is  the 
time  of  peril  on  the  sea ;  and  many  a  stately  vessel  has  been  driven  up  on 
these  shores,  where  her  timbers,  half  buried  in  the  sand,  have  crumbled 
away  during  the  slow  succeeding  years.  In  the  great  gales  of  December, 
1839,  when  the  islands  and  beaches  hereabouts  were  strewn  with  wrecks, 
and  ninety  vessels  and  two  hundred  lives  were  lost  in  Massachusetts  Bay, 
the  stately  barque  Lloyd,  bound  from  Havana  to  Boston,  was  driven 
ashore  on  Nantasket,  the  sea  making  a  clean  breach  over  her ;  and  all  on 
board  (except  one)  were  lost.  A  year  later  the  Hoogly,  laden  with  coffee, 
drove  up  on  the  beach  near  Strawberry  Hill,  and  went  to  pieces.  Long 
is  the  roll  of  schooners  and  coasters  whose  keels  have  been  broken  on 
these  shining  sands,  while  their  crews  scuttled  ashore  in  the  convenient 
'dory,  or  were  taken  off  by  the  securer  life-boat.  One  of  the  most  pathetic 
incidents  in  the  Nantasket  annals  occurred  in  1722,  when  the  Rev.  John 
Robinson  of  Duxbury  thus  wrote :  "  My  dear,  pious,  virtuous,  loving  wife 
Hannah,  and  my  dear  and  lovely  daughter  Mary,  were  both  of  them  drowned 
in  the  sea  near  Nantasket  Beach."  It  is  only  a  single  sentence,  but  how 
full  of  sadness  !  It  comforts  us  to  know  that  both  the  bodies  were  found 
(one  of  them  having  floated  to  Cape  Cod). 


L.H.Galeucia  Dei- 


views    ON    THE  JERUSALEM    ROAD. 


72 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


The  land  route  to  Nantasket  is  over  the  Old-Colony  Railway,  and  the 
time  from  Boston  to  the  beach  is  about  45  minutes.  The  line  runs  through 
a  country  rich  in  picturesque  scenery  and  historical  associations,  and 
abounding  in  ancient  and  populous  villages.    After  leaving  the  city,  it  follows 

the   shore   for  several   miles,  with 


pleasant  views  of  the  harbor  on 
the  left,  with  the  dark  groves  of 
Thompson's  Island  and  the  villa- 
crowned  ridge  of  S quantum.  After 
traversing  Savin  Hill  and  Harrison 
Square,  it  crosses  the  Neponset 
River,  leaves  the  hill-village  of 
Wollaston  Heights  on  the  right, 
and  runs  through  venerable  Ouin- 
cy,  the  home  of  the  Presidents, 
with  the  Adams  Academy  on  the 
left,  close  by  the  track.  The  train  passes  thence  into  the  rural  region  to 
the  southward,  and  at  Braintree  leaves  the  main  line,  and  passes  on  to  the 
rails  of  the  South-Shore  branch,  where  it  follows  through  the  rich  villages 
of  Weymouth,  and  into  Hingham.  A  mile  or  so  beyond  is  the  Old-Colony 
station  (18  miles  from  Boston),  whence  the  new  Nantasket-Beach  Railway 
diverges  to  the  beach,  running  through  a  quaintly  desolate  region  of  rocky 
hillocks  and  level  salt-marshes.  The  South-Shore  train  continues  on  to 
Cohasset,  Scituate,  Marshfield,  and  Duxbury,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  land 
of  the  Pilgrims. 


Brass  Mortar,   Life-Boat  Station. 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


73 


f&injjjjam  anti  OTrtrmoutl). 


DOWNER   LANDING   AND  MELVILLE  GARDEN.  — THE  OLD  SHIP. —WEYMOUTH'S 

STRANGE  HISTORY. 

OWNER  LANDING  is  the  pretty  summer-resort  on  the 
headland  at  the  mouth  of  Hingham  Harbor,  with  the  spacious 
Rose  Standish  House  at  the  head  of  the  pier,  and  a  score  or 
two  of  cottages  on  and  about  the  hill  beyond.  Fifty  years 
ago  this  was  one  of  the  least-visited  localities  in  the  Bay ; 
and  perhaps  its  former  name  of  Crow  Point  indicates  that  it 
was  then  chiefly  the  habitat  of  the  useful  but  unmusical  corvus  Ameri- 
camcs.  When  the  sailing-packets  were  unable  to  ascend  Hingham  Harbor, 
their  passengers  often  landed  here,  and  reached  the  village  by  a  foot-path 
through  the  woods.  The  point  was  purchased  in  1854  by  Samuel  Downer, 
who  intended  to  remove  his  great  oil-refinery 
hence,  from  South  Boston.  It  proved 
unsuitable  for  the  purpose,  beii 
frequently,  during  the  winter, 
inaccessible  by  water;  and  in 
1870-71  it  was  laid  out  in 
avenues,  as  a  summer-resort, 
and  a  hotel,  wharf,  pavil- 
ions, and  many  cottages 
were  built.  Within  five 
years  Mr.  Downer  spent 
two  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars  on  his 
pet  summer-resort ;  and  since 
1875  he  has  laid  out  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  \ 
dollars  more.  He  was  one  of  the 
original  abolitionists;  and  in  1877  a 
re-union  of  the  old  anti-slavery  lead- 
ers was  celebrated  here,  with  ora- 
tions by  Adams,  Hoar,  Bird,  and  others.  Mr.  Downer  was  also  a  man  of 
Puritan  piety,  and  occasionally  brightened  the  quiet  summer  Sundays  at 
the  Landing,  by  what  he  called  lay  sermons,  sometimes  rich  in  reminis- 
cences of  Mann,  Parker,  and  others  of  his  old-time  friends. 


In   Melville  Garden. 


74 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


The  Rose  Standish  House  is  a  spacious  and  comfortable  summer  hotel, 
which  has  always  been  the  resort  of  such  as  are  called  in  the  adjacent 
metropolis  "  nice  people."  Mr.  Downer  was  often  urged  to  move  this 
house  from  its  place  down  by  the  edge  of  the  water  to  the  crest  of  the  sea- 
viewing  mound  close  by ;  but  he  always  firmly  refused.  "  It  will  probably 
be  moved  very  soon  after  I  am  dead,"  he  said,  "but  it  never  shall  be 
before."  From  a  distance  the  house  looks  like  some  old-time  three-decker, 
drifted  ashore  under  the  hill.  Really  noble  views,  however,  are  commanded 
by  the  hill-cottages  above,  where  the  foot  of  the  amateur  casual  rarely  in- 
trudes, and  the  basket  of  the  picnic-party  is  not  seen.     Foremost  among 


ged   Island,   Downer  Landing. 


these  is  the  Cate  boarding-house,  which  overlooks  a  hundred  square  miles 
of  harbor;  and  farther  back,  and  around  the  pretty  cove  to  the  westward, 
are  other  comfortable  and  substantial  little  summer  homes.  Nora  Perry 
thus  daintily  touches  the  nerves  of  the  Crow-Point  villagers :  "  Downer 
Landing  is  a  retreat  for  the  cottagers  chiefly ;  and,  still  and  high,  it  looks 
down  upon  Nantasket's  whirl  and  bustle  with  a  little  of  the  holier-than-thou- 
ativeness  that  comes  so  natural  to  the  Bostonian.  Ask  these  quiet  dwellers 
enthroned  upon  their  height,  if  they  visit  Nantasket  frequently  for  a  day's 
junketing,  and  see  with  what  a  superior  air  of  pity  for  your  ignorance  you 
will  be  answered.  You  might  as  well  ask  them  if  they  spent  Fourth  of 
July  on  Boston  Common." 

Melville  Garden,  the  most  famous  picnic-resort  in  the  harbor,  is  reached 
by  a  covered  walk,  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  leading  from  the  Rose 
Standish  House.  On  this  twenty  acres  of  pleasaunce  are  all  manner  of 
means  for  summer  enjoyment, — groves  and  shrubberies,  hill-top  observa- 
tions, ponds  with  many  boats,  a  rocky  island  with  mazy  paths  leading  to 
cosy  tete-a-tete  pavilions  and  arbors,  bath-houses,  boats  and  yachts,  bowling- 
alleys,  shooting-galleries,  croquet-lawns,  bear-pits,  billiard-halls,  swings,  flying- 
horses,  and  other  sources  of  unbounded  joy  for  young  and  old.    The  veterans 


AY  JVC  S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


7$ 


of  the  Grand  Army,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  various  mystic  societies,  the 
multitudes  of  family  parties,  who  wend  their  way  here  of  summer  days,  find 
their  chief  delight  in  the  three  spacious  and  handsome  buildings  beyond 
Lake  Walton,  —  the  cafe,  with  a  hall  seating  six  hundred  persons;  the 
music-hall,  where  many  feet  keep  time  to  the  rollicking  melodies  of  the 
band ;  and  the  clam-bake  pavilion,  where  eight  hundred  persons  can  take 
their  places  at  once,  and  partake  of  ship-loads  of  clams  cooked  in  the 
genuine  and  unmodified  manner  of  Rhode  Island.  The  first  white  men 
who  came  to  Crow  Point  found  huge  mounds  of  clam-shells,  indicating  that 
the  Indians  had  long  enjoyed  the  delicious  products  of  the  adjacent  shores ; 
and  the  traditions  of  the  locality  have  been  so  worthily  respected,  after 
three  centuries,  that  if  Chickataubut  and  his  red  sachems 
could  revisit  this  favored  corner  of  their  ancient  domain. 


Melville  Garden,  from  Ragged  Island. 

they  would  find  at  least  one  comprehensible  observance.  There  is  proba- 
bly more  fun  to  the  acre  in  Melville  Garden  than  in  any  other  piece  of 
Massachusetts  ground. 

The  delightful  old  town  of  Hingham,  for  many  years  a  favorite  resort  of 
summer  ramblers,  is  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour  from  Boston,  by  steam- 
boat or  railway.  It  is  a  quiet,  staid,  and  conservative  place,  with  something 
of  an  English  air,  as  if  some  Kentish  or  Devonshire  hamlet  had  been  trans- 
ported across  the  sea  by  Puritan  angels,  and  dropped  among  the  hills  and 
coves  of  the  South  Shore.  There  is  much  wealth  among  the  old  families, 
who  lead  tranquil  and  somnolent  lives  in  their  pretty  wooden  houses,  sur- 
rounded by  trim  old-fashioned  gardens  and  orchards,  and  within  sound  of 
many  church-bells.     Streets  shaded  with  long  lines  of  century-old  elms  lead 


?6  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

almost  imperceptibly  into  fair  rural  highways,  among  the  comfortable  farms 
of  the  countryside ;  and  these,  again,  give  place  to  narrower  roads,  hard  by 
the  bright  waters  of  the  coves,  or  solemnized  by  the  shadows  of  the  woods. 
Every  thing  speaks  of  peace  and  plenty,  health  and  salubrity,  industry  and 
thrift.  The  town  has  about  four  thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants,  distrib- 
uted in  and  between  half  a  dozen  villages.  The  chief  of  these  is  grouped 
around  the  old  churches  and  the  railway-station,  some  ways  west  of  the 
steamboat-pier;  and  has  a  very  neat  and  comfortable  hotel,  the  Cushing 
House,  much  resorted  to  by  Bostonians,  who  find  the  drives  in  this  vicinity 
full  of  varied  interest  and  beauty,  while  the  resident  society  is  of  the  best. 
Here  stands  the  quaint  old  Derby  Academy,  founded  by  Madam  Derby  in 
the  last  century,  and  famous  throughout  the  South-Shore  towns.  Nearer 
the  harbor  is  the  Lincoln  House,  a  well-known  summer-resort,  which  is 
much  affected  by  Bostonians. 

Some  one  has  hit  upon  the  happy  phrase,  "  a  marine  Old  Hadley,"  with 
which  to  describe  Hingham ;  and  it  possesses  colonial  houses  and  ante- 
colonial  trees  enough  to  merit  the  title.  The  Old  Ship,  the  venerable 
meeting-house  of  the  First  Church,  was  built  in  1 68 1,  at  a  cost  of  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty  pounds,  and  has  been  used  as  a  house  of  worship  ever 
since.  The  pyramidal  roof  of  this  delightful  structure,  "the  oldest  church 
in  Yankeedom,"  is  crowned  by  a  quaint  little  colonial  belfry  and  spire ; 
and  the  interior  of  the  building  is  pervaded  by  the  solemnity  and  dignity 
which  pertain  to  its  years.  The  chief  ornament  of  the  ancient  hill  bury- 
ing-ground,  behind  the  church,  is  the  statue  of  John  A.  Andrew,  the  war- 
governor,  "  the  civilian  Miles  Standish  of  Massachusetts "  during  the 
Secession  War.  It  is  of  Carrara  marble,  and  was  executed  by  Gould,  at 
Florence.  As  a  work  of  art  this  statue  has  received  high  commendation 
from  capable  critics.  Andrew  was  for  many  years  a  resident  of  Hingham, 
and  his  grave  is  near  the  monument.  Elsewhere  in  this  high-terraced  ceme- 
tery are  the  monuments  to  the  ancient  pastors  of  the  village,  —  Norton, 
Ware,  Gay,  Lincoln,  and  other  fathers  of  the  church.  An  obelisk  com- 
memorates the  seventy-six  soldiers  and  sailors  of  Hingham  who  died  in  the 
Secession  War ;  and  another  tall  shaft,  surrounded  by  a  circular  redoubt,  is 
a  memorial  to  the  early  settlers.  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln's  grave  stands  on 
this  beautiful  hill. 

There  are  many  rare  old  colonial  houses  on  the  quiet  streets  and  roads 
of  Hingham.  The  Perez  Lincoln  place,  built  of  hewn  oak  before  1640,  is 
still  standing,  and  occupied  by  direct  descendants  of  Joseph  Andrews,  its 
builder.  The  Thaxter  mansion,  on  South  Street,  is  more  than  two  hundred 
years  old,  and  contains  many  curious  old  painted  panels.  The  great  beams 
overhang  the  low  parlors  in  antique  power.  It  is  but  seven  years  since  the 
Sprague  mansion,  on  Main  Street,  built  in  1654,  was  demolished.     Another 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


77 


of  these   houses  is  still   pointed  out  with  pride  as  the  stopping-place   of 
Lafayette,  and  the  home,  through  a  long  summer,  of  Phillips  Brooks. 

As  the  steamboat  winds  up  the  serpentine  channel  of  the  harbor,  it 
passes  four  islets  so  small  that  not  even  a  bit  of  history  or  legend  has 
stranded  upon  their  rocky  shores.  The  long  peninsula  on  the  left,  on  which 
stand  Planter's  Hill  and  Pine  Hill,  and  the  strange  lenticular  mound  of 
World's  End,  projecting  high  and  far  into  Weir  River,  pertains  to  the 
manorial  estate  of  John  R.  Brewer,  whose  mansion  is  seen  on  the  south 
side  of  Hingham  harbor.  The  hills  have  recently  been  planted  with  a  great 
number  of  shade-trees,  and  will  thus  become,  years  hence,  a  beautiful  fea- 


Scene  on   Ragged    Island 


ture  of  the  lower  harbor.  There  is  a  fancy  among  some  of  the  fishermen 
that  the  king  seal  of  the  harbor  has  his  habitat  off  World's  End.  On  the 
west  side  of  the  harbor  rises  the  high  mound  of  Otis  Hill,  with  its  egg- 
shaped  swell,  occupying  a  long  stretch  of  the  shore  towards  Downer  Land- 
ing. This  hill  was  the  object  of  Daniel  Webster's  profound  admiration, 
and  he  made  several  attempts  to  buy  it.  The  new  carriage-road  to  Downer 
runs  around  the  harbor-ward  side,  and  affords  charming  water-views.  On 
the  commanding  hill  to  the  right,  at  the  head  of  the  harbor,  is  the  hand- 
some many-gabled  villa  of  Gov.  John  D.  Long,  built  in  1870,  and  occupied 
every  summer  by  the  present  official  head  of  Massachusetts.     Here,  where 


7 8  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

his  view  commands  the  beauties  and  strongholds  of  the  metropolitan  bay, 
the  Governor  enjoys  his  great  library,  enriching  his  mind  with  the  English 
and  Latin  classics,  and  surrounded  by  charming  colonial  antiquities. 

The  pretty  upland  hamlet  of  Hingham  Centre,  about  one  and  a  half 
miles  from  Hingham,  has  several  stately  old  mansions,  a  venerable  ceme- 
tery, and  a  fine  new  public  library  with  reading-room  and  art-gallery.  The 
broad  boulevard  of  Main  Street  keeps  on  to  the  southward,  by  the  hamlet 
of  Glad  Tidings  Plain,  to  Liberty  Plain,  which  received  its  name  in  1774, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  raising  of  a  liberty-pole.  South  Hingham  has  a 
famous  magnolia-tree  in  its  burying-ground.  Still  farther  southward  is 
Queen  Anne  Corner,  a  group  of  ancient  houses,  rich  in  bits  of  picturesque 
eighteenth-century  work,  and  on  the  old  highway  which  leads  down  through 
Assinippi  and  toward  Marshfield.  Farther  south  is  Accord  Pond,  a  long- 
drawn  blue  lakelet,  high  up  along  the  plateau.  From  this  secluded  pond 
the  Hingham  water-works  supply  delicious  water  to  the  villages  near  by, 
and  to  most  of  the  hotels  and  houses  at  Nantasket  Beach. 

Fort  Hill,  on  the  Weymouth  road,  commemorates  the  little  fort  which 
was  erected  on  its  summit  in  1675,  one  °f  three  appointed  for  the  defence  of 
the  people  against  the  hostile  Indians.  Nevertheless,  several  houses  were 
burnt,  and  some  bloodshed  was  caused  in  the  town,  by  marauding  parties  of 
King  Philip's  red  warriors.  From  other  heights,  such  as  Turkey  Hill  and 
Squirrel  Hill,  beautiful  views  are  afforded  over  the  "  rumpled  and  uneven  " 
township,  the  variegated  green  and  blue  harbor,  and  the  wide  estuaries  on 
either  side. 

It  is  not  far  from  three  miles  from  Hingham  to  Nantasket  Beach,  by  a 
broad  and  pleasant  road,  over  which  many  carriages  and  barges  pass 
throughout  the  summer  days  and  evenings.  The  Old-Colony  House  was 
built  in  1832,  on  the  crest  of  the  hill  between  Hingham  and  the  beach;  and 
the  beauty  of  the  view  from  this  point,  and  the  coolness  of  the  air,  made 
it  a  favorite  resort  for  several  decades.  Thousands  of  summer  visitors 
sojourned  here  before  the  adjacent  resorts  were  dreamed  of.  On  an  Octo- 
ber afternoon  of  1872  this  paradise  of  the  ancients  was  burned,  and  several 
unavailing  attempts  have  since  been  made  to  raise  capital  to  reconstruct  it. 

Descending  the  long  hill  beyond  the  site  of  the  Old-Colony  House,  the 
highway  traverses  a  level  reach  for  a  long  distance,  passing  the  spacious 
old  farmhouse  and  summer  boarding-house  of  Riverside,  secluded  on  a 
rocky  knoll  on  the  left.  Weir  River,  here  narrowed  into  the  dimensions 
of  a  brook,  curves  around  the  house,  and  may  be  followed  by  boat  down  to 
Nantasket,  by  Ringbolt  Rock  and  a  score  of  summer  camps.  As  the 
Hingham  road  approaches  the  beach,  it  traverses  the  little  cross-roads 
hamlet  called  The  Tug,  and  then  sweeps  around  Atlantic  Hill  and  into  close 
view  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


79 


This  quaint  little  Hingham,  with  its  salty  bays  and  murmuring  woods, 
has  given  a  dozen  eminent  men  to  the  learned  professions,  and  several 
gallant  officers  to  the  army  and  navy.  Two  of  her  children  are  known  in 
art, —  VV.  A.  Gay  the  marine-painter,  and  Joseph  Andrews  the  engraver. 
There  may  be  something  revolutionary  in    the    air,  mingled    of   pine   and 

brine ;  for  here,  when 
abolitionism  was  sedi- 
tion, in  1843,  Jairus 
Lincoln  printed  a  vol- 
ume of  "  Anti-Slavery 
Melodies ;  for  Friends 
;  of  Freedom," 

wherein    the 


ringing  liberty  songs  of    Whittier 
and    Pierpont  and  their   brethren 
were    set    to    appropriate    music. 
It  was  at   Hingham,  nearly  sixty  years 
ago,  that  Richard  Henry  Stoddard,  one 
of  our  foremost   poets,  was  born.     He 
was   a  boy   of   boys    about  the  harbor, 
enjoying  the  full  flush  of  youthful  life  in  a 
seaport  town,  and  idling  away  many  a  day 
about  the  gray  old  wharves.     In  later  years 
his    tender   memories   of  this   region  were 
fruitful  in  flowing  and  melodious  verses. 

The  little  harbor  has  not  always  been  as 
dull  as  it  now  appears.  At  one  time  there  were  seventy 
sail  of  fishing-vessels  hailing  from  this  port;  and  between 
181 5  and  1826,  a  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  barrels  of 
mackerel  were  landed  from  their  salty  decks.  For  fifty  years  —  from  181 1  to 
about  i860  —  the  Rapid  sailed  as  a  packet  between  Hingham  and  Boston, 
making  the  trip  on  one  occasion  in  sixty-seven  minutes.  In  the  War  of  1812 
she  was  carried  up  Weymouth  River,  and  covered,  masts  and  hull,  with  green 
bushes,  so  that  marauding  British  cruisers  might  not  find   her.     In    1881 


So  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTOAr  HARBOR. 

this  venerable  vessel  was  refitted,  and  made  ready  for  another  half-century. 
The  earliest  steamboats  in  the  bay  wormed  their  way  betimes  into  Hingham 
Harbor,  —  as  when  the  puffy  little  Eagle  came  hither  in  1818.  Ten  years 
later  the  Lafayette  ran  regularly  between  Boston  and  Hingham,  twice  a 
day,  charging  thirty-seven  and  a  half  cents  each  way,  and  taking  two  hours 
for  the  trip.  Once  this  gloomy  little  vessel  was  caught  in  a  harbor-squall, 
off  the  Castle,  and  put  back  to  Hingham  in  great  trepidation.  The  old  salts 
of  the  village  had  a  mean  opinion  of  her,  and  many  were  the  obscure  marine 
jokes  of  which  she  was  the  object.  In  1831  a  new  steamboat-company  was 
organized,  which,  it  was    predicted,  would,  in    time,  carry  thirty  thousand 

passengers  a  year;  but  this  san- 
guine prophecy  fell  short  of  the 
present  result  by  over  a  hundred 
thousand.  The  first  boat  of  this 
line  was  the  Gen.  Lincoln,  which 
had  two  engines,  —  one  to  back, 
and  the  other  to  go  ahead,  in  the 
narrow  and  tortuous  channels  near 
On  Ragged  island.  Hingham.     The  Mayflower  was  the 

next  boat ;  and  was  succeeded  in 
1858  by  the  Nantasket  (now  the  Emeline)  which  went  into  the  national 
service  during  the  Secession  War,  and  ploughed  the  muddy  waters  of  many 
an  historic  Southern  river. 

The  town  received  its  first  settlers  in  1633  ;  and  two  years  later  its  name 
of  Bear  Cove  was  changed  to  Hi7ighai?t,  in  memory  of  the  English  village 
from  which  most  of  the  immigrants  came.  Among  the  pioneers  were  the 
Lincolns,  whose  local  descendants  included  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln,  famous 
in  the  Revolutionary  campaigns  at  the  South ;  Attorney-Gen.  Levi  Lincoln  ; 
Gov.  Levi  Lincoln,  and  other  notables.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  descended 
from  the  same  family.  Here  also  dwelt  the  Nortons,  the  Wares,  the  Gays, 
the  Hobarts,  and  other  well-famed  Puritan  clans  of  strong  and  steadfast 
pioneers,  whose  successors  in  the  land  lead  placid  and  tranquil  Unitarian- 
ized  lives,  and  levy  a  formidable  annual  tribute  on  Boston  by  leasing  their 
houses  to  city  merchants  during  the  heated  term. 

West  of  Hingham  lies  the  venerable  town  of  Weymouth,  on  the  south 
shore  of  the  harbor,  little  visited  by  summer  voyagers,  but  not  without 
attractive  coast  and  lake  scenery,  and  rich  in  historical  reminiscences. 
Until  within  a  year  or  two,  a  large  steamboat  plied  several  times  daily  be- 
tween Boston  and  the  picnic-grounds  (Lovell's  Grove)  at  North  Weymouth  ; 
but  her  passenger-lists  grew  smaller  and  smaller,  year  by  year,  until  at  last 
it  became  evident  that  the  Bostonians  no  longer  craved  the  mild  excite- 
ments of  Pine  Point;  and  the  quiet  waters  of  Quincy  Bay  have  since 
remained  unvexed  by  the  paddle-wheels  of  the  Stamford. 


AVA'U'S   HANDBOOK  OF  1WSTON  HARBOR. 


8l 


Eastward  Neck  runs  far  out  into  the  harbor,  nearly  to  Grape  Island, 
and  is  occupied  by  the  extensive  works  and  wharves  of  the  Bradley  Fer- 
tilizer Company,  and  the  vil- 
lage in  which  dwell  its  ten- 
score  employes.  This  busi- 
ness was  founded  in  1861,  and 
now  produces  annually  sixty 
thousand  tons  of  fertilizers, 
which  are  used  throughout 
the  United  States.  There  are 
odors  issuing  from  this  estab- 
lishment which    savor   not  of 


The  Old  Ship   (Unitarian  Church),    Hingham. 


Araby  the  Blest;  and,  crossing  the  harbor  on  the  unwilling  wings  of  a  south- 
erly gale,  they  enwrap  the  cottages  of  Hull  with  a  mild  malaria.     It  is  well 


82 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


to  know  that  this  effluvium  is  not  unhealthy,  but  acts  in  some  cases  as  a  cura- 
tive agency.  On  the  east  of  the  Neck  is  the  narrow  estuary  of  Weymouth 
Back  River,  running  up  for  three  miles  to  East  Weymouth,  the  seat  of  the 
iron-works.  There  are  several  well-known  camping-grounds  among  the  rocky 
bluffs  and  wooded  banks  of  this  picturesque  stream,  which  affords  some  of 
the  most  charming  nooks  near  the  harbor.  Farther  westward  is  the  more 
important  Weymouth  Fore  River,  on  which,  beyond  Germantown  and  Ouincy 

Point,  is  the  flourishing  commercial  village  of 
Weymouth  Landing.  Between  the  rivers  is 
North  Weymouth  ;  and  several  miles  inland 
is  the  wealthy  hamlet  of  South  Weymouth. 
The  manufacture  of  shoes  is  the  chief  indus- 
try, and  occupies  fully  eighteen  hundred  per- 
sons, while  the  rich  farms  which  fill  the  spaces 
between  these  thronging  villages  have  hardly 
a  hundred  and  fifty  men  to  care  for  them.  A 
well-known  Southern  author  recently  made 
a  pretty  sketch  of  life  in  this  ancient  town : 
"As  the  head  of  each  family  generally  has 
a  house  and  garden,  the  industrial  class  is 
tolerably  well  off,  and  with  money  in  the  sav- 
ings bank.  At  Weymouth,  too,  clams  may 
be  had  for  the  labor  of  digging  them,  and  fish 
for  the  sport  of  catching 
them.  Nantasket  is  in  full 
view,  and  the  fishing-ground 
within  a  short  sail.  When 
Morton,  of  Merry  Mount, 
set  up  his  Maypole,  to  the 
scandal  of  his  neighbors  in 
Plymouth,  he  little  dreamed 
what  a  paradise  his  wilder- 
ness would  become  in  two 
centuries.  Intersected  by 
tidal  rivers  of  great  depth, 
and  by  the  Old-Colony  Railway,  its  surface  diversified  by  lofty  hills,  com- 
manding enchanting  views  of  sea  and  land,  a  high  cultivated  soil,  innumerable 
orchards,  great  elms,  —  the  growth  of  a  century,  —  roads  as  smooth  as  an 
asphalt  pavement,  and  all  fanned  in  summer  by  the  invigorating  east  winds, 
the  people  of  Weymouth  have  no  reason  to  envy  the  inhabitants  of  any 
other  town  or  State." 

The  hamlet  of  Old  Spain,  three  miles  from  Quincy,  and  near  the  foot 


Statue    of    Gov 
ernor  Andrew, 


Old   Governor-Andrew  House. 


KING'S   HAND BOO K  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


83 


of  King  Oak  Hill,  was  the  site  of  the  second  settlement  in  Massachusetts, 
Plymouth  being  the  first.  Here,  in  May,  1622,  landed  a  party  of  ten  men, 
'•rude  fellows,  made  choice  of  at  all  adventures,"  and  sent  out  by  Thomas 
Weston,  an  enterprising  commercial  adventurer  of  London,  who  designed 
to  found  here  a  great  trading-post.  They  came  down  from  the  Maine  coast 
in  an  open  boat,  and  explored  Boston  Harbor  carefully,  pitching  upon  the 
Weymouth  region  as  the  best,  and  purchasing  the  land  of  a  local  Indian 
sagamore.  They  then  went  to  Plymouth,  and  a  few  weeks  later  returned 
with  sixty  more  "rude  fellows,"  sent  out  by  Weston.  During  die  ensuing 
winter,  this  half-starved  and  improvident  canaille  begged  and  stole  from  the 
Indians,  until  the  latter,  hating  and  despising  their  white  neighbors,  formed 
a  conspiracy  to  exterminate  them.  Miles  Standish  barely  saved  the  colony 
by  marching  up  from  Plymouth,  with  a  band  of  Pilgrim  soldiers,  and  killing 
the  hostile  chiefs  Pecksuot  and  Wituwamat  (as  narrated  in  Canto  VII.  of 
Longfellow's  "The 
Courtship  of  Miles 
Standish  ").  After  this 
disastrous  season,  the 
settlement  was  broken 
up.  In  1623  a  new 
colony  came  over  under 
Capt.  Robert  Gorges,  a 
veteran  of  the  Venetian 
wars,  and  son  of  Sir 
Ferdinando  Gorges, 
the  head  of  the  Council 
for  New  England  ;  and 
under  the  patronage  of  King  James,  the  Dukes  of  Buckingham  and  Rich- 
mond, and  many  other  powerful  English  nobles  and  gentlemen.  There  were 
in  this  company  traders  and  farmers  and  mechanics,  many  of  them  bringing 
their  families ;  with  the  Rev.  William  Morrell,  an  Episcopal  divine,  as  its 
spiritual  head ;  Francis  West,  as  Admiral  of  New  England ;  and  other 
grandiose  officials.  Gorges  took  possession  of  Weston's  abandoned  block- 
house and  clearings ;  and,  with  the  title  of  Governor-General,  endeavored 
to  found  here  the  capital  of  a  feudal  palatinate.  Here  dwelt  Blackstone, 
afterwards  the  pioneer  at  Boston ;  Walford  (probably),  the  first  settler  at 
Charlestown ;  and  Maverick,  who  afterwards  ruled  at  East  Boston.  But 
this  show  of  mediaeval  rank  was  rather  laughed  at  by  the  New-Englanders ; 
and  within  a  year  Gorges  returned  to  England,  and  was  soon  followed  by 
the  amiable  Morrell.  Wessagusset  was  shown  to  be  an  impractical  point 
for  a  trading-post,  on  account  of  its  long  and  devious  channel ;  and  most  of 
the  settlers  soon  went  away.     In    1635  a  third  settlement  was  established 


Ancient  Colonial   House,   Hingham. 


84 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


here,  by  twenty-one  families  (one  hundred  and  five  persons),  who  had  been 
induced  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hull,  their  leader,  to  emigrate  from  Dorset- 
shire. About  a  month  after  arriving  at  Boston,  they  took  ship  again,  and 
sailed  down  the  harbor,  and  through  the  southern  islands,  and  into  Fore 
River,  which  they  ascended  for  several  miles,  and  formed  a  settlement, 
named  Weymouth  in  memory  of  the  old  English  village  from  which  they 
had  emigrated.  Fragments  of  the  colonies  of  Weston  and  Gorges  remained 
in  occupation  of  Wessagusset,  tilling  their  lands,  and  enlarging  each  his 
individual  domain.  The  pleasant  heights  of  Burying  Hill  and  King  Oak 
Hill,  overlooking  the  harbor  expanse,  were  surrounded  by  their  farms  ;  and 
on  the  summit  of  the  former  soon  arose  the  village  church  and  watch-house, 
the  Acropolis  of  the  new  colony. 

During  King  Philip's  War,  Weymouth  suffered  from  several  Indian 
attacks,  and  many  of  its  outlying  houses  were  burned.  A  hundred  years 
later  there  was  a  flurry  of  battle  on  the  Weymouth  islands ;  and  peace  has 
since  reigned,  although  the  monument  to  ninety-nine  of  her  citizens,  who 
died  as  soldiers  in  the  Secession  War,  attests  the  patriotism  of  the  town. 
Among  the  natives  of  Weymouth  was  Joshua  Bates,  the  famous  London 
financier,  and  benefactor  of  the  Boston  Public  Library. 


jV^ 


TV  V 
In  the  Old  Cemetery,   Hingham, 


KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON   HARBOR.  85 


(ShttltCD. 

GERMANTOWN.  —  HOUGH'S     NECK.  —  THE     BLUE     HILLS,    AND     SQUANTUM. — 
MORION    OF  MERRY   MOUNT. 

ESTWARD  for  a  thousand  leagues  the  star  of  empire  has 
taken  its  way,  since  the  locality  was  so  strangely  christened ; 
but  the  name  of  Germantown  still  clings  to  the  little  penin- 
sula which  projects  into  Weymouth  River  from  Ouincy,  and 
looks  down  the  estuary  to  the  north-east,  and  out  across  the 
islands.  The  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  was  founded  here  in  1856,  in  a  charming 
location,  among  grand  old  trees,  under  which  the  blue  waters  of  the  Bay 
are  seen.  During  the  past  fifteen  years,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
weather-beaten  tars  have  been  received  here,  ninety  of  whom  died  in  the 
Harbor.  There  are  accommodations  for  about  twoscore.  The  sentiment 
of  the  place  is  well  expressed  in  Lunt's  poem,  read  at  its  dedication :  — 

"  Here  may  the  veteran  mariner  repose, 
When  on  his  craft  the  life-storm  fiercely  blows  ; 
Here  let  him  turn  a-port,  and,  furling  sail, 
Run  for  a  harbor  through  the  driving  gale  ; 
Here,  rounding  to,  drop  anchor  near  the  shore, 
And  ride  in  safety  till  life's  voyage  is  o'er. 
From  cape  to  cape,  search  round  our  noble  bay, 
No  lovelier  sight  than  here  can  eye  survey  ; 
From  yonder  hill,  when  sunset's  blazing  sheen 
Sets  in  a  golden  frame  the  pictured  scene, 
Let  the  eye  wander  freely  as  it  will, 
Landward  or  seaward,  all  is  beauty  still." 

From  the  lawn  near  the  Home  rises  a  tall  flag-staff,  with  a  small  cannon 
at  its  base.  Elsewhere  on  the  drowsy  little  peninsula,  shaded  by  exquisite 
elms,  are  two  or  three  ancient  houses  and  several  modern  villas.  A  car- 
riage-road leads  around  Town  River  Bay  to  Quincy  station,  by  Hough's 
Neck  and  Mount  Wollaston,  in  about  three  miles;  and  a  short  ferry  crosses 
to  Ouincy  Point,  whence  stages  run  to  Ouincy. 

There  are  some  interesting  bits  of  history  connected  with  this  seques- 
tered locality,  beginning  away  back  in  1751,  when  the  peninsula  of  Shed's 
Neck  was  laid  out  in  squares  and  streets  (Bern,  Hanover,  Hague,  Zurich, 
Mannheim,  etc.),  and  arranged  "for  a  town,  to  be  called  Germantown." 
The  property  soon  passed  into  other  hands,  and  was   colonized  by  German 


86  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

and  French  Protestant  families,  brought  over  from  the  Palatinate  by  Joseph 
Crellius.  Here  were  Hardwigs  and  Brieslers  and  Stubings  and  Schron- 
tenbachs,  and  many  others,  who  engaged  in  making  glass,  being  protected 
by  the  General  Court,  as  a  monopoly.  But  the  enterprise  was  not  remun- 
erative, and  in  a  few  years  most  of  the  exiled  Teutons  went  away.  Their 
directors  were  Gen.  Joseph  Palmer,  from  English  Devonshire,  who  had  a 
famous  mansion  and  garden  at  Germantown,  with  rich  furniture,  and  a  cele- 
brated picture  by  Copley.  So  genial  and  delightful  was  the  hospitality  of 
this  estate,  that  it  came  to  be  known  in  the  adjacent  countryside  as  "  Friend- 
ship Hall."  Its  master  became  an  American  general  in  the  Revolution, 
and  advanced  such  large  sums  from  his  private  purse,  to  help  the  patriot 
arms,  that  financial  ruin  ensued,  and  he  was  driven  from  his  home  a  bank- 
rupt. His  brother-in-law,  fellow-immigrant,  and  partner  was  Judge  Richard 
Cranch,  ancestor  of  the  poet-artist  Christopher  P.  Cranch.  At  German- 
town,  under  such  inspiration,  the  gallant  privateersman,  Capt.  Tucker, 
prepared  fire-ships  to  send  down  into  the  British  fleet  in  1776;  and  many 
another  enterprise  was  set  on  foot,  in  defiance  of  King  George  and  his 
Parliament. 

In  the  tranquil  period  which  succeeded  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  fish 
business  became  an  important  industry  at  Ouincy  Point.  About  fifty  years 
ago  Germantown  was  widely  famous  for  this  sea-harvesting,  and  the  half 
amphibious  homes  of  its  dozen  captains  were  surrounded  with  fish-flakes. 
Among  these  honest  mariners  dwelt  the  eccentric  old  Lieut.  Pennell,  who 
once  drove  to  Boston  in  a  sleigh,  on  the  Fourth  of  July;  and  cut  up  many 
other  queer  pranks,  to  the  great  edification  of  his  neighbors. 

A  few  years  later  Germantown  became  a  notable  whaling-port,  whence 
the  Creole,  Cambrian,  Ontario,  and  other  vessels  sailed  on  their  long 
voyages.  Ship-building  began  at  Ouincy  Point  in  1696,  when  the  ketch 
Unity  was  launched,  and  has  been  an  important  industry  there  ever  since. 
Between  1S54  and  1870  Deacon  Thomas's  celebrated  yard  at  Ouincy  Point 
turned  out  a  score  of  large  ships,  some  of  them  of  over  two  thousand  tons, 
besides  numerous  smaller  craft.  Here,  too,  were  built  the  Triumphant,  the 
Modoc,  and  other  famous  vessels  of  the  last  decade.  Mr.  Quincy  gives 
the  following  description  of  the  launching  of  the  Massachusetts,  as  far  back 
as  the  year  1789:  "The  hills  around  Germantown,  and  the  boats  which 
covered  the  harbor  and  river,  were  filled  with  spectators  from  Boston  and 
the  neighboring  country.  Both  English  and  French  naval  commanders,  at 
that  time  visiting  Boston  in  national  ships,  expressed  their  admiration  of 
the  model  of  this  vessel ;  and  it  was  afterwards  pronounced,  by  naval  com- 
manders at  Batavia  and  Canton,  as  perfect  as  the  then  state  of  the  art 
would  permit."  She  was  a  frigate-built  merchantman,  of  a  thousand  tons 
and  thirty-six  guns,  and  at  Canton  was  sold  to  the  Portuguese  Government. 


AVA'G'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR 


87 


To  the  northward  of  Germantown,  across  Rock-Island  Cove,  is  Hough's 
Neck,  which  was  granted,  in  1637,  to  Atherton  Hough,  of  Boston;  and  a 
road  was  built  out  on  it  in  1673.  It  is  a  pleasant  peninsula,  about  two  miles 
long,  with  marshes  and  uplands,  and  two  or  three  semi-attached  islets. 
The  road  from  Quincy  hither  is  in  a  primitive  condition  of  roughness  and 
crookedness,  and  adds  to  the  isolation  of  this  secluded  bay-side  park. 
The  outer  beaches  are  lined  with  cheerful  little  summer-houses,  close  to  the 
high-tide  line,  and  commanding  a  pleasant  view  over  Quincy  Bay  and  its 
islands,  the  terraced  cottages  of  Hull,  and  the  inner  lines  of   Nantasket. 


The  Great-Hill  House  is  small, 
but  not  without  many  parti- 
sans among  the  Norfolk-coun- 
ty people,  who  greatly  prize 
their  summer  visits  to 
"  Mears's."  The  Neck  ends 
at  Great  Hill,  a  round  and 
swelling  grassy  dome,  ninety-four  feet  high,  with  a  very  broad  and  charming 
view  over  the  harbor  and  outer  sea.  Near  the  Willow  House  is  a  long 
floating  pier,  where  a  landing  may  be  made  at  any  tide ;  and  farther  out 
is  the  bar  which  leads  to  the  thunderous  shore  of  Nut  Island. 

Near  the  point  where  Hough's  Neck  joins  the  mainland,  rises  Mount 
Wollaston,  on  which  stands  a  mansion  of  the  Adams  family.  It  was  in  the 
year  1625  that  Capt.  Wollaston  ("a  man  of  pretie  parts,"  as  the  Pilgrims 
called  him)  landed  on  this  shore,  near  the  hill  which  still  bears  his  name, 
bringing  thirty  or  forty  indentured  servants,  and  a  ship-load  of  goods  for 


88  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

trading.  But  his  serfs  would  not,  or  could  not,  work  successfully  on  a 
domain  which  in  the  eternal  councils  had  been  pre-empted  for  freemen ; 
and  so  it  happened  that,  a  year  later,  the  captain  took  ship  again,  and  sailed 
away  to  Virginia.  A  few  of  his  men  remained,  and  soon  came  under  the 
happy  despotism  of  Morton.  Of  all  the  dwellers  in  ancient  times  by  these 
blue  waters,  the  most  singular  and  picturesque  was  that  merry  and  rollicking 
scholar  and  adventurer,  Thomas  Morton,  of  Clifford's  Inn,  London,  who 
signed  himself  Gentleman,  with  a  large  G.  He  came  over  in  the  year  1622; 
and  when  Wollaston's  colony  broke  up,  four  years  later,  he  induced  the 
motley  remnants  of  that  praiseless  band  to  revolt,  and  depose  the  worthy 
captain's  deputy,  and  choose  himself  as  their  head.  Then  began  wild 
saturnalia  of  lawless  revels,  May-pole  dancings,  and  the  quaint  and  extrava- 
gant mummeries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  of  which  he,  self-styled  "mine  host 
of  Ma-re-Mount  and  Abbot  of  Misrule,"  was  the  soul  and  inspiration.  This 
boisterous  and  easy-going  demagogue  soon  drew  to  his  forest  Arcadia  all 
the  loose  and  dissolute  individuals  along  the  coast,  and  led  away  many 
sober  laborers  from  the  adjacent  colonies,  to  become  companions  of  his 
phenomenal  society,  free  from  the  restraints  of  the  grim  little  Israels  to  the 
north  and  south.  Hither  they  came,  —  runaways  in  stolen  shallops,  from 
the  outer  coasts,  deserting  sailors,  and  wondering  Indians  in  their  bark 
canoes,  —  and  joined  the  ceaseless  carnival.  The  natives  took  more  kindly 
to  Morton,  who  supplied  them  freely  with  guns  and  ammunition  and  whis- 
key, than  to  his  prudent  and  sedate  neighbors,  and  found  more  delight  in 
his  festive  gatherings  than  in  the  conventicles  cf  Plymouth  and  Cape 
Ann.  He  thus  narrates,  in  his  New  EnglisJi  Canaan,  the  charms  of  the 
Alsatia  of  the  West:  — 

"  And  when  I  had  more  seriously  considered  of  the  beuty  of  the  place, 
with  all  her  faire  indowments,  I  did  not  thinke  that  in  all  the  known  world 
it  could  be  paralel'd.  For  so  many  goodly  groues  of  trees  ;  dainty  fine 
round  rising  hillucks ;  delicate  faire  large  plaines,  sweete  cristall  fountaines, 
and  cleare  running  streames,  that  twine  in  fine  meanders  through  the  meads, 
making  so  sweete  a  murmering  noise  to  heare,  as  would  even  lull  the  sences 
with  delight  a  sleepe,  so  pleasantly  doe  they  glide  upon  the  pebble  stones, 
jetting  most  jocundly  where  they  doe  meete  ;  and  hand  in  hand  runne 
downe  to  Neptune's  Court,  to  pay  the  yearely  tribute,  which  they  owe  to 
him  as  soveraigne  Lord  of  all  the  springs.  Contained  within  the  volume  of 
the  Land,  Fowles  in  abundance,  Fish  in  multitude,  and  discovered  besides  ; 
Millions  of  Turtle-doves  one  the  greene  boughes  :  which  sate  pecking,  of 
the  full  ripe  pleasant  grapes,  that  were  supported  by  the  lusty  trees,  whose 
fruitfull  loade  did  cause  the  armes  to  bend,  which  here  and  there  dispersed 
(you  might  see)  Lillies  and  of  the  Daphnean  tree  which  made  the  Land  to 
mee  seeme    paradice,  for  in    mine    eie,  'twas  Natures   Master-peece :    Her 


ICING'S  HAND/WOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


89 


chiefesl   Magazine  of  all  where  lives  her  store:  if  this  Land  be  not  rich, 
then  is  the  whole  worlde  poore." 

Having  found  such  a  paradise,  he  ordained  for  it  games  and  pastimes  of 
rare  ingenuity,  whereof  let  him  at  length  discourse:  "The  inhabitants 
of  Pasonagessit  (having  translated  the  name  of  their  habitation  from  that 
ancient  Salvage  name  to  Mar-re  Mount;  and  being  resolved  to  have  the 
new  name  confirmed  for  a  memorial  to  after  ages)  did  devise  amongst  them- 
selves to  have  it  performed  in  a  solemne  manner  with  Revels,  &  merriment 
after  the  old  English  custome  :  prepared  to  sett  up  a  Maypole  upon  the 
festivall  day  of  Philip  and  Jacob ;  &  therefore  brewed  a  barrell  of  excel- 
lent beare,  &  provided  a  case  of  bottles,  to  be  spent,  with  other  good  cheare, 
for  all  commers  of  that  day.  And  because 
they  would  have  it  in  a  compleat  forme, 
they  had  prepared  a  song  fitting  to  the  time 
and  present  occation.  And  upon  Mayday 
they  brought  the  Maypole  to  the  place  ap- 
pointed, with  drumes,  gunnes,  pistols,  and 
other  fitting  instruments,  for  that  purpose  ; 
and  there  erected  it  with  the  help  of  Salva- 
ges, that  came  thether  of  purpose  to  see  the 
manner  of  our  Revels.  A  goodly  pine  tree 
of  80  foote  longe,  was  reared  up,  with  a 
peare  of  buckshorns  nayled  one,  somewhat 
neare  unto  the  top  of  it :  where  it  stood  as 
a  faire  sea  marke  for  directions  ;  how  to 
finde  out  the  way  to  mine  Host  of  Ma-re 
Mount.  .  .  .  There  was  likewise  a  merry 
song  made,  which  (to  make  their  Revels 
more  fashionable)  was  sung  with  a  Corus, 
every  man  bearing  his  part;  which  they  per- 
formed in  a  daunce,  hand  in  hand  about  the  Maypole,  whiles  one  of  the 
Company  sung,  and  filled  out  the  good  liquor  like  ganimedes  and  Iupiter." 

But  Morton's  lot,  unfortunately  for  him,  was  not  cast  among  the  happy- 
go-lucky  colonists  of  Virginia;  and  his  Pilgrim  neighbors  were  keen  observers 
of  the  profane  revels  at  the  Mount.  The  public  sense  of  New  England 
quickly  took  offence ;  and  the  opprobrious  title  of  Mount  Dagon  was  given 
to  his  habitat,  after  which  it  obviously  became  the  duty  of  the  chosen  people 
to  exterminate  the  intruding  Philistines.  Standish  marched  from  Plymouth 
(in  1628),  with  eight  Roundhead  warriors,  and  seized  the  Mount,  sending 
its  lord  a  prisoner  to  England ;  and  Endicott  also  led  the  Salem  train-band 
hither,  and  cut  down  the  odious  May-pole.  To  pay  the  cost  of  this  Pilgrim 
raid,  assessments  were  levied  on  Salem,  Hull,  Portsmouth,  and  the  Isles 


Sailors    Snu?   Harbor 


90  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

of  Shoals.  A  year  later  Morton  returned ;  but  was  speedily  sent  back  to 
England,  and  saw  the  burning  of  Merry-Mount  from  the  ship  in  which 
he  was  being  borne  away.  In  1643  he  came  back  once  more  to  his  paradise 
by  Boston  Harbor,  broken  in  fortune,  and  oppressed  by  weight  of  years. 
The  grim  Puritans  speedily  seized  him,  and  vainly  ordered  a  fine  of  a  hun- 
dred pounds  to  be  collected  from  him.  He  fled  to  Agamenticus  (now  York), 
in  Maine,  where  he  presently  died.  This  strange  episode  in  New-England 
history  forms  the  theme  of  Motley's  charming  romance  of  "  Merry-Mount," 
and  also  one  of  Hawthorne's  "  Twice-told  Tales." 

As  Morton  himself  ruefully  wrote,  "  The  setting  up  of  his  Maypole  was 
a  lamentable  spectacle  to  the  precise  separatists :  that  lived  at  new  Plim- 
mouth.  They  termed  it  an  Idoll;  yea  they  called  it  the  Calf  of  Horeb;  and 
stood  at  defiance  with  the  place,  naming  it  Mount  Dagon  ;  threatening  to 
make  it  a  woefull  mount  and  not  a  merry  mount." 

But  Massachusetts  was  destined  to  find  Mount  Wollaston  once  more  a 
rankling  thorn  in  her  side.  In  1634  Ann  Hutchinson  came  hither,  from 
England,  and  preached  the  pernicious  doctrines  of  Antinomianism  (what- 
ever that  may  have  been)  so  ably  and  subtly  that  she  won  over  Sir  Harry 
Vane  and  many  other  Puritan  magnates.  At  Mount  Wollaston  her  brother- 
in-law  and  adherent,  John  Wheelwright,  a  classmate  and  friend  of  Oliver 
Cromwell  at  Cambridge  University,  preached  a  famous  sermon,  for  which 
the  orthodox  Boston  magistrates  decreed  him  guilty  of  "  contempt  and  se- 
dition." He  was  exiled  from  the  colony,  and  went  north  into  the  wilder- 
ness, where  he  founded  Exeter.  Ann  Hutchinson  also  was  banished.  She 
sailed  down  the  harbor  to  Mount  Wollaston,  and  thence  removed  to  the 
Dutch  country,  near  New  Amsterdam,  where  she  was  slain  by  the  Indians. 
Her  adherents,  Underhill,  Oliver,  Rainsford,  Aspinwall,  and  many  others, 
were  disarmed  of  "  guns,  swords,  pistols,  powder,  shot,  or  match ;  "  and  some 
of  them  were  exiled  from  the  colony.  William  Coddington  and  Sir  Harry 
Vane  came  to  the  Mount  on  Fast  Day,  1636,  and  heard  Wheelwright's  in- 
flammatory sermon.  Coddington  was  a  crown  magistrate,  who  immigrated 
with  Winthrop,  and  built  the  first  brick  house  in  Boston.  He  was  a  large 
landholder  at  Mount  Wollaston.  Having  been  banished  from  Boston  for 
his  Antinomianism,  he  fled  southward,  and  founded  Rhode  Island,  of  which 
he  was  governor  for  seven  years. 

In  itself  this  harbor-side  hill  has  many  charms,  of  which  let  the  golden 
pen  of  John  Lothrop  Motley  speak  :  "  Merry-Mount  —  for  by  that  cheerful 
title,  most  grating  to  the  ears  of  the  Plymouth  people,  was  the  place  now 
designated  —  was  as  agreeable  a  place  for  an  exile's  residence  as  could  have 
been  found  in  the  bay.  In  the  centre  of  a  half-moon,  the  two  horns  of  which 
curved. outward  to  the  sea,  forming  a  broad  and  sheltered  basin,  was  a  sin- 
gularly shaped,  long,  elevated  mound,  rising  some  fifty  feet  above  the  level 


AV.VG'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


91 


of  the  tide.  It  was  a  natural  knoll  of  gravel,  resembling  in  its  uniformity  an 
artificial  embankment;  and,  although  fringed  about  its  base  and  its  sides  by 
white  pines  and  red  cedars,  it  was  in  its  centre  entirely  bare  of  wood,  and 
presented  a  bold  front  to  the  sea,  which  was  separated  from  it  only  by  a 
narrow  strip  of  marsh.  Beyond  this  cliff,  upon  the  right,  as  you  looked 
from  the  hill  towards  the  ocean,  was  the  broad  mouth  of  Wessaguscus  River ; 
upon  the  left,  a  slender  creek  wound  its  tortuous  way  through  a  considerable 
extent  of  salt-marsh  to  the  sea.  Beyond  the  creek  and  the  marsh  was  a  line 
of  prettily  indented  coast,  with  the  picturesque  promontory  of  Squantum 
bending  sharply  towards  the  ocean,  near  which,  on  the  landward  side,  was  a 
large,  wooded,  island-like  hummock,  called  Massachusetts  or  the  Arrow 
Head,  the  residence,  previously  to  the  plague,  of  Chickatabot,  sagamore  of 
the  adjacent  territory  called  the  Massachusetts 
Fields.  Many  gently  swelling  hills  rose,  one 
upon  the  other,  beyond,  thickly  crowned  with 
white  oak,  hickory,  and  ash,  whose  gigantic  but 
still  leafless  tracery  was  clearly  defined  upon 
the  sombre  background  of  the  shadowy  pine 
forests,  which  closed  the  view  towards  Shaw- 
mut  and  completely  shut  out  that  peninsula. 
On  the  inland  side,  the  eye  was  delighted  with 
a  soft  and  beautiful  panorama.  As  the  region 
had  long  been  inhabited,  at  previous  epochs,  by 
the  Indians,  there  were  many  open  clearings ; 
and  the  underbrush  and  thicket  having  been, 
according  to  their  custom,  constantly  burned, 
the  tall  oaks  and  chestnuts  grew  everywhere  in  unencumbered  magnifi- 
cence, and  decorated  a  sylvan  scene,  of  rolling  hills,  wide  expanses,  and 
woody  dells,  more  tranquil  and  less  savage  than  could  have  been  looked 
for  in  the  wilderness.  Seaward  from  the  Mount  the  view  was  enchanting. 
Round  islands,  tufted  with  ancient  trees,  and  looking  like  broken  links 
from  the  chain  of  hills  around,  seemed  to  float  far  out  upon  the  waves, 
till  they  were  one  beyond  another  lost  in  the  blue  distance ;  while  a  low  but 
beautifully  broken  line  of  coast  fringed  the  purple  expanse  of  the  sur- 
rounding ocean,  and  completed  the  wilderness  picture,  fresh  from  the  hand 
of  Nature." 

From  William  Tyng,  its  second  owner,  Mount  Wollaston  passed  in  due 
succession  to  his  great-grandson,  John  Ouincy,  who  built  a  house  there,  in 
which  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1767.  This  gentleman  was  a  faithful  servant 
of  the  people,  and  the  name  of  the  town  of  Ouincy  stands  as  his  memorial. 
The  transient  connection  of  another  noble  family  with  this  locality  was 
attested  by  John  Adams,  who  erected  a  granite  monument  to  the  memory  of 


Sailors'  Snug  Harbor. 


92  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

his  ancestor,  bearing  these  words  :  "  In  memory  of  Henry  Adams,  who  took 
his  flight  from  the  Dragon  persecution  in  Devonshire,  in  England,  and  alight- 
ed with  eight  sons,  near  Mount  Wollaston."  The  crest  of  the  Mount  is  now 
occupied  by  the  mansion  of  the  present  John  Ouincy  Adams,  a  leader  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  Massachusetts  ;  and  a  great  number  of  forest-trees  have 
been  planted  on  the  slopes  during  the  past  forty  years,  restoring  to  this 
historic  hill  much  of  its  ancient  appearance  of  wild  and  sylvan  beauty. 

On  a  high  hill  in  Ouincy  stands  the  villa  of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  the 
statesman,  with  a  view  described  by  a  Southern  visitor  as  including  "out 
yonder  the  indented  ocean,  hungering  around  naked  stone  islets,  or  lapping 
long  stretches  of  acrid  marsh."  At  the  foot  of  the  hill  is  the  stately  old 
mansion  (built  in  1786)  where  President  John  Adams  died,  and  where  his 
descendants  live.  Nearer  the  Bay  are  other  villas  of  the  same  patrician 
family.  The  houses  in  which  the  two  Presidents,  John  Adams  and  John 
Ouincy  Adams,  were  born,  still  stand  in  the  south  part  of  the  village,  and  are 
used  as  tenements.  The  remains  of  these  statesmen  are  buried  in  the  por- 
tico of  the  Stone  Temple,  or  Unitarian  church,  whose  gilded  cupola  is  visi- 
ble from  the  harbor-hills.  Elsewhere  in  the  town  is  the  old  house  of  John 
Hancock,  the  famous  Revolutionary  patriot.  Nor  were  these  the  only  mag- 
nates of  the  locality.  For  many  years  (about  the  middle  of  the  last  century) 
there  lived  here  a  Boston-born  lad  named  Henry  Hope,  whose  mother  was  a 
woman  of  Ouincy.  On  attaining  manhood  he  left  the  shelter  of  the  Blue 
Hills,  and  went  across  the  sea  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  became  the  head 
of  a  banking-house  second  only  to  that  of  the  Rothschilds.  He  lent  vast 
sums  to  Spain  and  Holland,  and  Russia  "borrowed  $35,000,000  from  him. 
The  palace  which  he  built  at  Haarlem  was  afterwards  the  home  of  Louis 
Bonaparte. 

Among  the  other  children  of  Ouincy  were  Freeman  Hunt,  the  founder  of 
the  famous  "  Merchants'  Magazine ; "  Whitney,  the  author;  Mrs.  Ware,  a 
well-known  poet  of  the  first  half  of  this  century ;  and  many  a  notable  Adams 
and  Quincy. 

The  large  white  building  near  the  shore,  north  of  Mount  Wollaston,  was 
built  in  1865,  under  the  care  of  A.  H.  Rice,  James  L.  Little,  and  others,  as 
a  National  Sailors'  Home,  for  sailors  of  the  navy,  disabled  by  wounds, 
sickness,  or  old  age.  It  possesses  all  the  modern  conveniences  and  many 
little  luxuries,  and  has  been  very  successful.  Near  to  the  Home  is  the 
ancestral  estate  of  the  Hon.  Josiah  Ouincy,  close  to  the  harbor,  and  from 
its  venerable  colonial  windows  giving  prospects  over  the  out-bound  and 
in-bound  fleets.  The  house  was  built  in  1770,  in  a  domain  of  five  hundred 
acres  of  woodland  and  meadow,  purchased  from  the  original  Indian  pro- 
prietors by  Edmund  Ouincy  in  1635.  Here  dwell  old-time  manners  and 
virtues,  and  the  stately  memories  of  the  days  of  Washington  and  Lafayette. 


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93 


IWTB.e^d-OctV   Itonves- — 


BIRTHPLACES    OF  JOHN    ADAMS    AND   JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS;    ADAMS    ACADEMY; 
GRANITE   QUARRY, —QUINCY. 


94  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

Ouincy,  the  chief  of  the  half-dozen  villages  among  these  "  fair  round 
hillocks  and  delicious  fair  plains,"  with  its  handsome  Adams  Academy, 
new  public  library,  great  brick  hotel,  and  newspaper,  is  near  the  centre  of 
the  town,  on  the  Old-Colony  Railway,  and  about  half  an  hour's  ride  from 
Boston.  The  quality  of  its  citizens  is  shown  on  the  soldiers'  monument  in 
the  adjacent  cemetery,  which  tells  of  forty-one  men  who  died  of  battle- 
wounds,  twenty  in  rebel  prisons,  and  fifty-two  of  disease  contracted  in  the 
service,  out  of  a  contingent  of  eight  hundred  and  forty-seven  men  sent  into 
the  national  armies  by  Ouincy. 

A  little  way  back,  and  very  conspicuous  from  the  harbor,  is  the  pretty 
modern  village  of  Wollaston  Heights,  on  the  domain  granted  in  1636  to 
Rev.  John  Wilson,  the  first  minister  of  Boston,  who  was  a  native  of  royal 
Windsor,  and  a  fellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge.  The  shapely  hill 
was  graced  with  a  single  house  in  1869;  but  now  it  has  two  churches,  a 

large  hotel,  and  several  score  of  pretty 
little  villas,  commanding  charming  sea- 
views. 

The  Blue  Hills  of  Ouincy  and  Milton 
lie  to  the  westward  of  the  village,  cover- 
ing perhaps  twenty  square  miles,  and  cul- 
minating in  a  magnificent  and  far-viewing 
dome-shaped  height,  six  hundred  and 
thirty-five  feet  above  the  sea.  Scientific 
Near  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor.  men  say  that  this  range  is  older  than  the 

Alps  or  Pyrenees,  according  to  the  evi- 
dences of  geology.  It  does  not  appear  in  history,  however,  until  the  year 
1007,  when  the  Norse  vikings  from  Greenland  saw  the  distant  woody  ridges 
from  their  galleys  cruising  off  the  coast.  When  Capt.  John  Smith,  that 
wonderful  combination  of  crusading  knight,  fearless  sea-king,  and  romantic 
explorer,  first  examined  our  New-England  coasts  in  1614,  he  named  the 
high  hills  over  Boston  Harbor  the  Massachusetts  Mount,  in  reference  to 
the  rich  and  powerful  Indian  tribe  which  dwelt  at  its  foot.  But  Prince 
Charles  afterward  ordained  that  the  name  Cheviot  Hills  should  be  applied 
thereto,  thus  initiating  the  fashion  for  English  names,  which  was  ever 
afterward  filially  followed  on  the  shores  of  the  harbor.  On  these  heights 
often  stood  the  eagle-eyed  Indians  of  whom  Morton  spoke,  saying,  "  They 
have  tould  us  of  a  shipp  at  Sea,  which  they  have  seene,  soener  by  one 
hower,  yea  two  howers  sayle,  than  any  English  man  that  stood  by."  Accord- 
ing to  Edward  Everett  this  land  of  mountains  and  lakes  was  the  hunting- 
park  of  the  Bay  tribe. 

When  Lord  Harris  was  serving  in  Gage's  British  army  he  wrote  home 
that  "  The  country  is  most  beautifully  tumbled  about  in  hills  and  valleys, 


ICING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  95 

rocks  and  woods,  interspersed  with  straggling  villages,  with  here  and  there 
a  spire  peeping  over  the  trees,  and  the  country  of  the  most  charming  green 
that  delighted  eye  ever  gazed  on." 

The 'Blue  Hills  are  composed  largely  of  granite,  or  sienite ;  and  Ruskin 
himself  praises  the  intense  purity  of  such  a  geological  region,  claiming  also 
that  "  the  inhabitants  of  granite  countries  have  a  force  and  healthiness  of 
character  about  them  that  clearly  distinguishes  them  from  the  inhabitants 
of  less  pure  districts."  About  eighty  years  ago  the  granite-quarries  were 
opened,  from  which  tireless  toilers  have  taken  the  stone  for  Bunker-hill 
Monument,  the  Custom  Houses  at  Boston,  New  Orleans,  Mobile,  Savannah, 
Portland,  San  Francisco,  Providence,  and  many  other  famous  public  build- 
ings, monuments,  and  fortresses.  Here  was  built  (in  1S26)  the  first  railway 
in  America,  a  line  three  miles  long,  on  which  cars  laden  with  granite  were 
drawn  by  horses  down  to  the  wharf  on  the  Neponset  River. 

The  Blue  Hills  are  very  conspicuous  from  all  parts  of  the  harbor  and 
the  sea  beyond,  their  regular  outlines  giving  them  the  appearance  of  a 
group  of  vast  domes  of  unequal  sizes.  It  would  be  an  exaggeration  to  say 
that  they  sustained  such  a  relation  to  the  harbor  as  Vesuvius  does  to  the 
Bay  of  Naples,  yet  some  such  idea  endeavors  to  assert  itself.  The  color  of 
the  range  has  been  likened  to  that  of  the  Blue  Ridge  in  Virginia.  There 
is  remarkable  beauty  in  these  western  watch-towers,  still  lifting  their  road- 
less solitudes  and  tangled  forests  high  above  the  thronged  towns,  and  look- 
ing so  wild  and  untouched  that  one  would  hardly  be  surprised  to  hear  that 
Massachusee  wigwams  and  tall  red  hunters  were  to  be  found  among  their 
inner  glens.  From  the  hill-tops  of  Hull,  from  the  plains  of  Winthrop, 
from  many  of  the  islands,  these  gracious  summits  close  the  view  down  the 
level  floor  of  waters  with  fine  effect.  The  coloring  of  the  range  is  richly 
varied,  under  changing  conditions  of  sunshine  and  cloudy  sky,  from  turquoise 
to  sapphire,  and  then  to  dappled  purple,  and  then  to  a  formidable  sable, 
when  heavy  storms  lower  over  them.  During  his  long  residence  in  Europe 
John  Adams  once  said,  "  If  there  is  a  Bostonian  who  ever  sailed  from  his 
own  harbor  for  distant  lands,  or  returned  to  it  from  them,  without  feelings 
at  the  sight  of  the  Blue  Hills,  which  he  is  unable  to  express,  his  heart  is 
differently  constituted  from  mine."  A  few  such  dry  remarks  are  all  that 
our  literature  shows  about  these  picturesque  little  mountains,  which,  as 
Charles  Francis  Adams  has  justly  said,  present  "  lights  and  shadows  mak- 
ing a  picture  worthy  of  the  pencil  of  Rembrandt  or  Claude."  They  are 
ignored  alike  in  the  songs  of  our  poets,  and  on  the  canvases  of  our  artists. 
Aldrich  lived  among  them  for  years,  but  did  not  find  or  feign  a  local  legend ; 
Norton's  studio  faced  them,  and  failed  to  catch  their  tints.  It  is  reserved 
for  the  twentieth  century  to  do  for  the  Blue  Hills  what  Irving  and  Cole 
have  done  for  the  Catskills,  enshrined  In  literature  and  art. 


g6 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


The  double-headed  peninsula  of  Squantum  projects  into  the  harbor  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Neponset,  and  terminates  in  a  long  and  bold  bluff  ninety- 
nine  feet  high,  overlooking  Nantasket  Roads  and  the  inner  harbor,  and 
occupied  by  a  line  of  handsome  summer-houses.  At  one  end,  near  Thomp- 
son's Island,  is  the  once  famous  Old  Squantum  House,  which  is  now  a 
private  domain,  pertaining  to  the  family  of  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler.  There  are 
some  beautiful  bits  of  scenery  on  this  plateau,  and  on  the  winding  road 
which  leads  across  the  western  lowlands  to  Atlantic  station.  At  one  time 
Squantum  bade  fair  to  become  a  popular  summer-resort ;  but  the  re- 
cent construction  of  the  great  >Hv  Boston  sewer  across  its  front  has 
brought     armies     of     laborers      /  \      here,   and    makes    its    present 


condition  the  reverse  of  aes- 

The     origin     of     the 
uncertain.      There 
dition    that    an    In 
threw     herself 
to  the  sea,  and 
named    the 
Sq  u  aw 


Better 
there     are 
ing   it  to  have 
in  honor   of  Tis- 


thetic. 

name  of   this  locality  is 

an  old  and  puerile  tra- 

dian    squaw    once 

from  the  cliff  in- 

the     people 

locality 

Tumble. 


reasons 

for    believ- 

been     named 

quanto,    the    In- 

Pilgrims.       Its    met- 

ages    is    vividly    set 

prose  :     "The    fair 


dian  chief  who  first  befriended  the  -«-2'    "^ 

ropolitan  importance    in   long-past      The  Profile,  Squantum 

forth  in  Edward  Everett's  classic 
domain  of  our  namesake  tribe  extended  from  the  broad,  smooth  floor  of 
Nantasket,  where  the  whispering  ripple,  as  it  runs  up  the  beach,  scarcely 
effaces  the  footprints  of  the  smart  little  sandpipers,  all  round  to  the 
cold  gray  ledges  of  Nahant,  on  which  the  mountain-waves  of  the  Atlantic, 
broken  and  tired  with  their  tempestuous,  weltering  march  through  sev- 
enty degrees  of  longitude,  conflicting  with  all  the  winds  of  heaven,  sink 
down  upon  their  adamantine  bed  like  weary  Titans  after  battling  with 
the  gods,  and,  lulled  by  the  moaning  dirges  of  their  voiceful  caves,  roll  and 
rock  themselves  heavily  to  sleep.  Some  'old  men  of  Massachusetts' 
affirmed  that  in  the  interior  they  extended  as  far  west  as  Pocontacook. 
They  hunted  small  game  in  the  Blue  Hills,  and  on  their  snow-shoes  they 
followed    the    deer    to    Wachusett.      They   passed    in   their   bark   canoes 


KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  97 

through  Mother  Brook  into  Charles  River;  the  falls  of  Nonantum  and  the 
head-waters  of  the  Mystic  were  favorite  resorts ;  they  ranged  even  to  the 
Nashua.  Their  war-parties  met  the  Tarratines  on  the  Shawshine  and 
Merrimac. "  But  they  loved  especially  the  fair  headland  of  Squantum:  the 
centre  of  their  power  was  Neponset  Falls." 

Chickataubut  was  the  sachem  of  the  Massachusetts  tribes,  which  held 
the  country  from  the  Charles  River  to  Weymouth,  and  once  could  put  3,000 
warriors  into  the  field.  Most  of  these  were  swept  off  by  the  great  pestilence 
of  1613;  and  the  chieftain  retired  to  these  seashore  fields  with  the  feeble 
remnant  of  his  clan.  He  received  Winthrop  and  the  Boston  colonists  with 
stately  courtesy,  and  gave  them  many  valuable  presents.  He  sought  them 
out,  at  the  shabby  little  village  on  Shawmut,  coming  up  in  some  state,  with 
his  chiefs  and  women,  and  sitting  at  Winthrop's  own  table.  There  is  a 
tradition  that,  in  1669,  he  gathered  an  army  of  700  warriors,  and  marched 
westward  across  the  colony  to  the  Hudson  River,  and  besieged  the  great 
tribal  fortress  of  his  hereditary  enemies,  the  Mohawks.  The  attack  was 
unsuccessful,  and  the  Massachusees  retreated  rapidly  towards  Stockbridge. 
But  the  fierce  Mohawks  snared  them  in  an  ambush  among  the  Berkshire 
Hills,  and  destroyed  nearly  the  entire  command,  after  a  long  and  pitiless 
battle.  Chickataubut  and  58  of  his  sagamores  were  slain  on  the  field ;  and 
the  green  plains  of  Squantum  saw  them  no  more.  Their  broad  corn-fields 
were  occupied  by  the  immigrating  Puritans.  The  feeble  remnant  of  the 
tribe  came  under  the  government  of  Chickataubut's  brother,  Cutshamequin, 
who  led  it  up  the  Neponset  valley,  from  whence  the  Apostle  Eliot  induced 
them  to  go  to  Ponkapog,  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Blue  Hills.  Here 
they  slowly  faded  away,  and  the  last  pure-blooded  Massachusee  Indian 
died  in  the  present  century. 

In  the  fall  of  1621  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims  became  curious  about  the 
Massachusees,  and  ordered  Miles  Standish  "togoe  amongst  them;  partly 
to  see  the  countrey,  partly  to  make  peace  with  them,  and  partly  to  procure 
their  trucke."  So  the  doughty  captain  took  nine  men,  and  Tisquanto  the 
interpreter,  and  sailed  away  at  midnight.  Through  the  darkness  the  little 
shallop  bravely  held  its  way  up  the  coast,  rounded  Point  Allerton,  and 
reached  the  bottom  of  the  Bay,  at  Squantum.  Here  the  Pilgrims  landed 
at  daylight,  and  found  a  pile  of  fresh  lobsters  on  the  beach,  which  they 
carried  under  the  Chapel  Cliff,  and  breakfasted  upon.  Afterwards  sentries 
were  placed  on  the  Chapel,  and  Standish  and  his  men  found  Obbatinewat, 
the  Massachusee  sachem.  He  was  persuaded  to  acknowledge  the  English 
authority,  though  with  the  dimmest  possible  idea  of  what  that  was ;  and 
then  the  militant  missionaries  marched  inland. 

Morton,  the  delightful  Munchausen  of  ante-Puritan  days,  proclaims 
that  "  Chalke    stones    there  are  near  Squanto's  Chapell,  shewed  me  by  a 


98 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


Salvage."  Again,  Motley  makes  him  say,  "  Over  at  Squanto's  chapel 
yonder,  is  a  fountain  of  a  most  remarkable  power;  for  its  waters  cause  a 
deep  sleep  of  forty-eight  hours  to  those  who  drink  forty-eight  ounces  at 
a  draught,  and  so  on  proportionably."  As  a  reason  for  this  property,  he 
suggests  that  "the  Puritans  of  Plymouth  have  buried  their  oldest  and  most 
soporific  sermons  within  the  grave  of  their  honored  and  red-legged  friend 
Squantum,  who  lies  buried  there.  But,  whatever  be  the  cause,  the  fact  is 
unquestionable.  The  great  Powahs  were  accustomed  to  go  thither  to  drink 
of   the  fountain,  and  when  filled  with  its  inspiration  they  would   astonish 

their  disciples  with  the  multitude  and  mag- 
nificence of  their  visions." 

Morton  says  that,  during  his  govern- 
mentof  Merry-Mount,  "  Sir  Christopher 
Gardiner  (a  Knight,  that  had  bin  a 
traveller,  both  by  Sea  and  Land;  a 
good  judicious  gentleman  in  the 
Mathematticks,  and  other  Sciences 
usefull  for  Plantations,  Kimistry,  &c. 
and  also  being  a  practicall  Enginer) 
came  into  those  parts,  intending  dis- 
covery." This  mysterious  individual 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  of 
that  group  of  strange  men  who 
came  hither,  apart  from  the  Puri- 
tans, and  perhaps  as  parts  of  a 
hostile  Church -of -England  con- 
spiracy, designing  to  rear  a  new 
feudal  state  on  the  ruins  of  the 
Roundhead  colony.  In  his  fascinating  romance  of  "  Merry-Mount,"  Motley 
places  Sir  Christopher's  home  just  north  of  Squantum,  at  the  head  of  a  beau- 
tiful cove.  He  also  speaks  of  him  as  being  the  same  person  (under  another 
name)  as  the  renowned  Sir  Fulk  de  Gorges,  a  knight  of  Malta,  hero  of 
many  naval  battles  with  Turkish  fleets  and  Dalmatian  pirates,  captain 
of  Venetian  free-companies,  a  gallant  adventurer  in  Spain,  and  a  close  ally 
of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  in  his  schemes  for  renewing  the  triumphs  of 
Cortez  and  Pizarro  on  the  coasts  of  New  England.  But  the  Puritans  made 
short  work  of  this  brilliant  and  ambitious  monk-soldier,  who  was  branded 
in  their  colonial  records,  as  "  a  person  unmeete  to  inhabit  here."  Gov. 
Hutchinson,  in  his  History  of  Massachusetts  (written  120  years  ago),  thus 
despatches  the  unfortunate  knight:  "In  the  same  ship  [in  1631]  Sir  Chris- 
topher Gardner  was  sent  home  under  confinement.  He  was  a  Knight  of 
the  Sepulchre,  but  concealed  his  true  character,  and  came  over  last  year, 


Captain  Miles  Standish. 


XT/JVC'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  99 

under  pretence  of  separating  himself  from  the  world,  and  living  a  life  of 
retirement  and  devotion.  He  offered  to  join  to  several  of  the  churches, 
but  he  was  suspected  to  be  an  immoral  man,  and  not  received.  He  had 
a  comely  young  woman  which  travelled  with  him.  He  called  her  his  cousin. 
For  some  miscarriages  in  Massachusetts,  he  fled  to  the  Indians.  They 
carried  him  to  Plymouth,  having  first  used  him  pretty  roughly.  From 
thence  he  was  sent  to  Boston.  He  joined  afterwards  with  Gorges,  Mason 
&  others  in  complaints  against  the  colony."  In  his  "Rhyme  of  Sir  Chris- 
topher," Longfellow  is  equally  censorious  :  — 

"  It  was  Sir  Christopher  Gardiner, 
Knight  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
From  Merry  England  over  the  sea, 
Who  stepped  upon  this  continent 
As  if  his  august  presence  lent 
A  glory  to  the  colony. 

"  But  a  double  life  was  the  life  he  led; 
And,  while  professing  to  be  in  search 
Of  a  godly  course,  and  willing,  he  said, 
Nay,  anxious,  to  join  the  Puritan  Church, 
H  e  made  of  all  this  but  small  account, 
And  passed  his  idle  hours  instead 
With  roystering  Morton  of  Merry  Mount, 
That  pettifogger  from  Furnival's  Inn, 
Lord  of  misrule,  riot,  and  sin, 
Who  looked  on  the  wine  when  it  was  red." 

The  first  white  proprietor  of  Squantum  was  the  canny  Scot,  Thompson, 
who  dwelt  upon,  and  gave  his  name  to,  the  adjacent  island.  It  was  after- 
wards the  domain  of  Roger  Ludlow,  "a  pious  gentleman  of  good  family;" 
next,  of  Mr.  Newberry,  the  ancestor  of  a  celebrated  geologist  of  this 
century ;  and  then  of  John  Glover,  who  established  a  tannery  here,  and 
had  large  herds  of  cattle  grazing  on  the  hills.  The  rocky  pile  of  Musquan- 
tum  Chapel  (whose  projecting  ledges  form  a  remarkable  profile  of  the 
human  face)  was  a  favorite  landmark  as  early  as  1632.  This  locality  has 
notable  natural  attractions,  and  has  been  termed  by  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
"a  miniature  Nahant,  deep  within  the  recesses  of  the  harbor."  In  1716 
Squantum  was  set  apart  for  a  hospital,  to  receive  the  sick  from  vessels 
entering  the  Bay.  But  Dorchester,  Milton,  and  Braintree  protested  against 
it,  and  the  scheme  was  abandoned.  Sixty  years  later  the  promontory  was 
cannonaded  by  British  vessels,  and  an  unfortunate  militiaman  was  killed,  on 
Moon  Island,  by  a  shot. 

The  Pilgrim  Feasts  of  Squantum  were  in  ancient  times  celebrated  with 
great  enthusiasm,  late  in  August  of  each  year,  and  attracted  many  notables, 


IOO  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON' HARBOR. 

and  great  crowds  of  the  yeomanry.  In  1812  the  Feast  was  attended  by 
Gov.  Strong,  Lieut.-Gov.  Phillips,  Commodore  Bainbridge,  and  many  other 
eminent  men,  besides  a  number  of  Southern  gentlemen ;  and  the  cutter 
"  Washington"  anchored  off  the  Point,  and  fired  salutes  from  her  artillery. 
These  annual  rejoicings  were  in  honor  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who  doubt- 
less would  have  been  drearily  scandalized  at  their  hearty  merry-makings. 
The  easy  access  from  the  town  rendered  the  feasts  very  attractive  to  the 
solid  old  merchants  of  Boston,  who  could  drive  hither  in  seven  miles,  over 
the  pleasant  Dorchester  roads,  or  sail  across  from  Long  Wharf.  At  pres- 
ent the  easiest  land-route  to  Squantum  is  from  Atlantic,  a  station  on  the  Old- 
Colony  Railway,  just  outside  of  Boston ;  and  in  summer  public  carriages 
connect  with  the  trains,  and  run  out  to  the  boarding-houses  on  the  cliff, 
crossing  the  plain  where  the  Boston  Jockey  Club  established,  in  1812,  the 
first  race-course  in  Massachusetts.  Here,  also,  the  old-fashioned  musters 
were  held,  when  the  Norfolk-County  brigade  assembled  on  training-days,  and 
went  through  their  rural  evolutions,  enveloped  by  a  host  of  temporary  sutlers 
and  merry-making  boys.  Farther  on  the  road  runs  across  marshy  low- 
lands, with  the  Farm  Meadows  on  the  left,  running  almost  to  Commercial 
Point.  Beyond  is  the  fine  ridge  of  Squantum,  haunted  by  legions  of  Mass- 
achusee  ghosts,  and  beautified  by  many  noble  old  trees. 

Moon  Island  is  now  no  longer  an  island,  having  been  joined  to  Squan- 
tum by  a  substantial  artificial  isthmus,  in  connection  with  the  new  Boston 
sewer,  whose  reservoir  is  being  built  here.  For  two  and  a  half  centuries 
it  was  the  most  conspicuous  object  in  this  part  of  the  harbor,  with  its  high 
and  grassy  bluff  rising  boldly  over  Quincy  Bay,  and  dotted  with  grazing 
cattle.  But  now  it  has  become  the  scape-goat,  on  which  the  ills  of  Boston 
are  to  be  laid,  to  be  borne  off  thence  into  the  wilderness  of  the  sea. 


"    .        1 

Sailors'  Snug  Harbor. 


ICING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  [01 


€>lti   ©orcfjegter. 

NEPONSET,    HARRISON    SQUARE,    SAVIN     HILL,    AND    THE    GREAT    SEWER.— 

CITY   POINT. 

0  the  northward  of  the  Neponset  River,  the  shores  of  the 
harbor  for  several  miles  lie  in  the  ancient  town  of  Dorches- 
ter, which  was  settled  in  1630,  and  annexed  to  Boston  in 
1869.  It  is  now  one  of  the  loveliest  of  suburbs,  with  sev- 
eral villages  among  its  graceful  hills,  and  many  of  the  noble 
rural  estates  for  which  the  environs  of  Boston  are  cele- 
brated. Here  town  and  country  meet,  in  happy  union, 
amid  a  diversity  of  natural  scenery,  which  affords  rare  opportunities  for 
generous  landscape  gardening.  Gray  old  colonial  churches  and  mansions 
stand  side  by  side  with  last  year's  growth  of  Oueen-Anne  cottages  ;  and 
from  a  score  of  hill-tops  the  wide  harbor  is  seen  outspread,  stretching  to 
the  far-away  sea.  A  region  so  fair  and  favored,  and  inhabited  by  the  genu- 
ine old  Puritan  stock  (we  have  seen  its  steeple-crowned  fathers  landing  at 
Hull,  away  back  in  1630),  must  needs  have  been  a  nursery  of  noble  men. 
Among  its  eminent  natives  was  John  Lothrop  Motley,  who  grew  up  in  the 
love  of  the  sea  and  its  heroes,  and  was  by  this  inspiration  moved  to  write 
the  most  bewitching  historical  romance  of  Boston  Harbor,  and  the  most 
vivid  and  picturesque  history  of  the  sea-kings  of  Holland.  Here,  too,  was 
born  Edward  Everett,  the  silver-tongued  orator  and  statesman,  many  of 
whose  finest  passages  were  lighted  up  by  the  poetry  of  the  adjacent  hills 
and  waters.  From  his  own  simple  and  pathetic  words,  let  us  recall  a 
mournful  picture  of  the  neighborhood.  In  his  youth  he  often  heard  of  the 
last  Massachusee  Indian,  who  lived  in  a  lonely  wigwam  on  Stoughton  Pond, 
"  and  used  to  come  down,  once  or  twice  a  year,  to  the  seaside ;  hovered  a 
day  or  two  about  Squantum  ;  caught  a  few  fish  at  the  Lower  Mills  ;  strolled 
off  into  the  woods,  and  with  plaintive  wailings  cut  away  the  bushes  from  an 
ancient  mound,  which,  as  he  thought,  covered  the  ashes  of  his  fathers ;  and 
then  went  back,  a  silent,  broken,  melancholy  man,  —  the  last  of  a  perished 
race." 

Near  the  mouth  of  the  Neponset  River,  which  flows  down  from  the 
heights  of  Sharon  and  Walpole,  is  the  brisk  village  of  Neponset,  once  a 
hopeful  outport  of  Boston,  with  a  very  respectable  commerce,  and  now  a 
comfortable  suburb.  The  memorials  of  antiquity  abound  in  and  about  this 
retired    corner   of    Boston,   and    up    through    the    delightful    valley  of   the 


102  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

Neponset.  On  Pine  Neck  occurred  an  exciting  hunt,  240  years  ago,  when 
a  huge  bear  was  slain  here  by  Goodman  Minot,  after  alarming  the  whole 
countryside.  Once  a  vindictive  Indian  visited  this  stalwart  hunter's  house, 
in  his  absence,  when  there  were  but  two  children  and  a  servant-girl  on 
the  premises.  He  fired  at  the  maid,  but  missed  her  ;  and  she  returned 
the  shot,  wounding  him  in  the  shoulder.  He  then  tried  to  break  in  at  the 
window,  and  was  hotly  enough  received  with  a  shovelful  of  burning  coals, 
dashed  into  his  face,  upon  which,  bleeding  and  fatally  scorched,  he  fled  to 
the  woods,  where  his  body  was  found  the  next  day.  The  General  Court 
presented  the  maid  with  a  silver  bracelet,  bearing  this  inscription,  u  She 
slew  the  Narragansett  hunter."  The  same  old  Minot  House  stood  until 
1875,  when  it  was  destroyed.  On  Pierce's  Hill,  near  by,  is  the  Pierce  man- 
sion, built  in  1640,  with  a  museum  of  Dorchestrian  antiquities,  and  now 
owned  by  the  seventh  generation  of  the  family  which  founded  it.  Other 
neighboring  localities  are  regarded  with  reverent  interest  by  the  local 
antiquaries. 

Commercial  Point,  which  the  Indians  called  Tenean,  projects  into  the 
harbor  to  the  northward,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Neponset  River,  and  has 
deep-water  channels  up  to  its  wharves.  It  was  occupied  in  1633  by  John 
Holland,  who  sent  out  vessels  hence  in  the  cod-fishery,  for  twenty  years. 
During  the  Provincial  era  fortifications  were  erected  here;  and  in  1774 
"  the  greate  gun  "  was  carried  away,  probably  to  keep  it  from  the  British 
soldiers.  In  the  War  of  181 2  also,  it  was  fortified,  and  had  the  camp  of  the 
militia  from  the  western  counties,  when  called  out  by  Gov.  Strong,  in  1814, 
to  defend  our  coasts.  After  its  long  march  from  the  rendezvous  at  New 
Salem,  the  regiment  of  farmers  found  a  pleasant  resting-place  by  the  Bay- 
side  through  the  fair  October  weather.  One  of  the  commands  encamped 
here  was  the  victim  of  a  singular  piratical  attack ;  for  on  a  certain  occasion, 
when  ordered  to  parade  before  the  State  House,  it  neglected  to  set  guards, 
and  on  returning  from  Boston  found  that  people  from  vessels  in  the  harbor 
had  completely  stripped  the  camp,  taking  even  the  tents. 

The  commercial  and  shipping  business  founded  here  in  1807,  proving 
unsuccessful,  was  replaced,  six  years  later,  by  a  pottery,  bakery,  and,  hotel ; 
but  the  locality  was  nearly  deserted,  and  presented  a  sad  scene  of  desolation 
and  decay.  In  1831  a  new  life  was  infused  into  it,  when  Dorchester  capitalists 
formed  a  company  for  prosecuting  the  fisheries  of  cod  and  whales,  and  six 
ships  and  nearly  a  score  of  schooners  were  owned  and  sailed  from  the  Point. 
Crowds  of  hardy  mariners  then  thronged  its  wharves,  spun  South-Sea  yarns 
in  its  tavern,  and  distressed  the  Dorchester  farmers  with  their  rollicking 
pranks.  For  some  reason  the  business  did  not  prosper;  and  the  last  ships 
of  the  fleet  were  laden  with  Argonauts  and  lumber,  and  sent  around  the 
Horn  to  California.     The  next  occupants  were  a  firm  who  erected  a  huge 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  103 

building  for  making  heavy  iron-castings,  and  carried  on  a  large  business 
here  for  several  years.  They  then  sold  the  property  to  the  Boston  Gas 
Company,  its  present  owners,  whose  works  are  destined  to  be  of  great  mag- 
nitude and  importance.  The  comfortable  new  club-house  of  the  Dorchester 
Yacht  Club  is  on  one  side  of  the  Point.  The  characteristic  American 
hopefulness  has  several  times  seen  this  dreary  old  Commercial  Point  the 
centre  of  a  coming  metropolis  ;  and  once  the  Old-Colony  muse  predicted 
its  future  majesty,  in  a  resounding  poem,  beginning  with  these  lines  :  — 

"  Where  Dorchester  her  lucid  bosom  swells, 
Counts  her  young  navies,  and  the  storm  repels  ; 
High  on  the  Mount,  amid  the  fragrant  air, 
Hope  stood  sublime,  and  waved  her  auburn  hair  ; 
Calmed  with  her  rosy  smile  the  tossing  deep, 
And  with  sweet  accents  charmed  the  winds  to  sleep." 

Close  to  Commercial  Point  is  the  pleasant  upland  of  Harrison  Square, 
occupied  by  a  quiet  and  nobly  shaded  collection  of  pretty  houses  and 
villas,  islanded  between  the  rushing  current  of  the  Old-Colony  Railway  and 
the  harbor,  and  crossed  by  several  commodious  streets.  This  Arcadian 
village  was  once  famous  for  its  stanch  Abolitionists,  who  were  always  free 
with  their  money  for  the  good  cause  of  liberty. 

A  little  farther  to  the  northward,  nearly  insulated  by  two  coves,  is  the 
picturesque  rocky  height  of  Savin  Hill,  deriving  its  name  from  the  ever- 
green shrubs  along  the  upper  slopes.  The  road  which  runs  around  its  base 
is  lined  with  pretty  villas,  commanding  views  of  the  adjacent  waters,  through 
the  abundant  foliage  of  their  grounds.  There  is  a  small  beach  on  one  side, 
and  toward  the  harbor  projects  the  peninsula  of  Fox  Point.  Until  the 
formidable  southerly  advance  of  the  town  began,  Savin  Hill  (although 
within  3|  miles  of  the  State  House)  was  a  delightful  semi-marine  paradise, 
where  a  few  favored  gentlemen  dwelt  in  peaceful  luxury,  with  their  yachts 
and  horses.  But  now  the  city  has  pre-empted  the  thirteen  acres  of  pictur- 
esque, rocky,  and  thicketed  wild  land  on  the  crest  for  a  park ;  three  or  four 
summer  boarding-houses  have  been  opened  among  the  villas ;  and  the  mani- 
fold noises  of  the  metropolis  are  slowly  approaching  from  the  crowded 
northern  streets. 

The  pleasant  highland  north-west  of  Savin  Hill  is  Jones's  Hill,  recently 
opened  to  settlement,  and  commanding  a  superb  view  of  the  harbor.  To  the 
south  is  Meeting-House  Hill,  crowned  by  a  church  and  other  public  buildings. 
This  was  the  headquarters  and  parade-ground  of  the  American  right  wing 
during  the  siege  of  Boston,  in  1775.  Farther  inland  is  Mount  Bowdoin,  at 
whose  foot  lived  the  patrician  Bowdoin  family,  affluent  in  statesmen  and 
philanthropists.     The  storied  plains  and  hills  of  Dorchester  cover  all  the 


104  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

intervening  reaches,  now  rapidly  filling  with  the  overflowing  population  of 
Boston. 

Hutchinson  says,  in  his  venerable  history,  that  the  capital  of  the  Indians 
in  this  region  was  "  on  a  small  hill,  or  rising  upland,  in  the  midst  of  a  body 
of  salt  marsh  in  Dorchester ;  "  and  Young  thinks  that  this  must  have  been 
Savin  Hill.  The  Dorchestrians  have  an  inscrutable  joke  about  Capt.  John 
Smith  having  landed  here,  while  exploring  the  New-England  coast.  In 
1633  a  fort  was  built  on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  at  the  expense  of  Dorchester. 
The  engineer  in  charge  —  "  straight  as  an  arrow,  well-nigh  as  brown  as  the 
Indians  whom  he  fought,  in  leather  breeches  and  peaked  hat,  with  a  heavy 
sword  hanging  by  his  side  "  —  was  Capt.  John  Mason,  who  had  fought  in 
the  Netherlands  under  Fairfax,  and  afterwards  crushed  the  hostile  Pequot 
tribe  in  Connecticut.  The  home  of  this  famous  Puritan  soldier  was  on 
Fox  Point,  where  he  lived  for  many  years.  Several  great  guns  were 
mounted  on  the  fort,  overlooking  the  approaches  to  the  harbor  of  Dorches- 
ter. The  main  battery  was  probably  at  the  flat  rock  on  the  south  side  of 
the  hill,  to  command  the  Neponset  River.  It  was  thought  that  the  chief 
commerce  of  the  settlement  would  enter  that  way,  since  Dorchester  was 
then  the  chief  town  of  Massachusetts.  After  the  colony  changed  front  to 
the  northward,  and  the  Castle  was  built,  the  fort  on  Savin  Hill  fell  into 
ruins.  Among  the  ancient  residents  of  Savin  Hill  was  the  ambitious  and 
hot-headed  Deputy-Gov.  Roger  Ludlow,  a  man  well  off  in  this  world's 
goods,  and  a  rigid  Puritan,  as  befitted  Gov.  Endicott's  brother-in-law. 
Being  disappointed  at  not  receiving  the  chief  magistracy,  he  went  away  to 
Connecticut,  and  then  to  Virginia,  where  he  died.  His  neighbor  was 
Thomas  Hawkins,  the  fearless  old  sea-dog,  who  chartered  several  war-ves- 
sels to  the  Frenchman  La  Tour.  Afterwards  he  built  the  famous  400-ton 
ship  Seafort,  "  set  out  with  great  ornament  of  carving  and  painting,  and 
with  much  strength  of  ordnance, :'  all  which  naval  splendor  was  lost  on  the 
coast  of  Spain  in  1645. 

Since  the  little  Gibraltar,  of  Dorchester  was  dismantled,  its  site  has  not 
appeared  in  history.  In  1824  Lafayette  visited  the  summer  camp  of  the 
New-England  Guards  at  Savin  Hill,  which  Levasseur,  his  secretary,  called 
"  a  very  picturesque  place  on  the  shores  of  the  sea,  where,  during  the  season 
of  good  weather,  the  volunteer  companies  of  Boston  come  successively  to 
pass  some  days  in  tents,  and  devote  themselves  to  military  exercises." 

The  beautiful  description  which  Motley  gave  of  Boston  Harbor,  as 
Blackstone  saw  it,  may  well  apply  to  the  view  from  this  hill-top:  "The 
Bay  was  spread  out  at  his  feet  in  a  broad  semicircle,  with  its  extreme  head- 
lands vanishing  in  the  hazy  distance,  while  beyond  rolled  the  vast  expanse 
of  ocean,  with  no  spot  of  habitable  earth  between  those  outermost  barriers 
and  that   far-distant  fatherland,  which   the   exile  had  left  forever.     Not  a 


KING'S   If  A. XD BOO  A"   OF  BOSTO.Y  //AA'BOA\ 


105 


solitary  sail  whitened  those  purple  waves;  and  saving  the  wing  of  the  sea- 
gull, which  now  and  then  flashed  in  the  sunshine,  or  gleamed  across  the 
dimness  of  the  eastern  horizon,  the  solitude  was  at  the  moment  unbroken 
by  a  single  movement  of  animated  nature.  An  intense  and  breathless 
silence  enwrapped  the  scene  with  a  vast  and  mystic  veil.  The  Bav  pre- 
sented a  spectacle  of  great  beauty.  It  was  not  that  the  outlines  of  the 
coast  around  it  were  broken  into  those  jagged  and  cloud-like  masses,  that 
picturesque  and  startling  scenery,  while  precipitous  crag,  infinite  abyss,  and 
roaring  surge  unite  to  awaken  stern  and  sublime  emotions :  on  the  contrary, 
the  gentle  loveliness  of  this  trans-Atlantic  scene  inspired  a  soothing  mel- 
ancholy, more  congenial  to  the  contemplative  character  of  its  solitary  occu- 
pant.    The  bay.  secluded  within  its  forest-crowned  hills,  decorated  with  its 


necklace  of  emerald  islands,  with  its  dark  blue  waters  gilded  with  the  rays 
of  the  western  sun.  and  its  shadowy  forests  of  unknown  antiquity  expand- 
ing into  infinite  depths  around,  was  an  image  of  fresh  and  virgin  beauty, 
a  fitting  type  of  a  new  world,  unadorned  bv  art.  unploughed  by  industry, 
unscathed  by  war.  wearing  none  of  the  thousand  priceless  jewels  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  unpolluted  by  its  thousand  crimes  —  springing,  as  it  were,  from 
the  bosom  of  the  ocean,  cool,  dripping,  sparkling,  and  fresh  from  the  hand 
of  its  Creator.  On  the  left,  as  the  pilgrim  sat  with  his  face  to  the  east,  the 
outlines  of  the  coast  were  comparatively  low.  but  broken  into  gentle  and 
pleasing  forms.  ...  A  chain  of  thickly-wooded  islets  stretched  across, 
from  shore  to  shore,  with  but  one  or  two  narrow  channels  between,  present- 
ing a  picturesque  and  effectual  barrier  to  the  boisterous  storms  of  ocean. 
They  seemed  like  naiads,  these  islets  lifting  above  the  billows  their  gentle 
heads,  crowned  with  the  budding  garlands  of  the  spring,  and  circling  hand 


106  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

in  hand,  like  protective  deities  about  the  scene.  On  the  south  rose,  in  the 
immediate  distance,  that  long,  boldly  broken,  purple-colored  ridge  called 
the  Massachusetts,  or  Mount  Arrow  Head,  by  the  natives,  and  by  the  first 
English  discoverer  baptized  the  Cheviot  Hills." 

A  little  way  north-east  of  Savin  Hill  is  Old-Harbor  Point,  which,  after 
ages  of  neglect,  has  recently  become  a  centre  of  great  activity,  on  account 
of  the  works  of  the  great  sewer,  the  Cloaca  Maxima  of  Boston,  whose 
works  are  being  constructed  on  a  scale  of  magnitude  and  munificence 
worthy  of  ancient  Rome  or  modern  London.  On  this  Point  are  two  enor- 
mous Leavitt  and  two  Worthington  engines,  with  tanks  into  which  the 
accumulations  of  many  miles  of  intercepting  sewers  are  to  be  discharged, 
their  outflow  being  pumped  up  thereinto  by  the  engines,  and  freed  from 
floating  substances  and  heavy  drift,  after  which  the  sewage  will  be  sent 
off  through  the  tunnel  under  Dorchester  Bay  to  Squantum  and  Moon 
Island.  Handsome  stone  buildings  are  to  be  erected  here,  of  great  magni- 
tude and  imposing  proportions.  The  entire  cost  of  the  works  on  the  Point 
will  exceed  $1,000,000.  It  has  for  many  years  been  a  source  of  incon- 
venience and  danger  to  Boston,  that  her  sewers  emptied  into  the  streams, 
bays,  and  docks  of  the  city,  and  poisoned  the  air ;  their  contents  being  left 
on  the  flats  at  low  tide,  and  driven  back  around  the  town  by  the  flood  tide. 
The  new  intercepting  sewers  surround  the  margin  of  the  city,  below  the 
level  of  the  existing  sewers,  and  conduct  their  contents  to  a  still  lower  main 
sewer,  down  which  they  flow  to  Old-Harbor  Point,  where  they  are  to  be 
pumped  up  forty  feet,  and  the  fluid  part  will  pass  through  the  tunnel  to 
Moon  Island  and  the  sea.  It  is  hoped  to  complete  this  colossal  work  by 
1884,  by  which  time  its  cost  will  probably  have  exceeded  $6,000,000. 

The  tunnel  under  Dorchester  Bay  is  nearly  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  and 
contains  5,000,000  bricks  and  8,000  barrels  of  cement.  All  of  it  was  cut 
through  solid  slate  and  conglomerate  rock,  with  great  difficulty  and  danger, 
at  a  depth  of  over  150  feet  below  the  sea  level,  and  with  an  internal  diameter 
of  Jh  feet.  In  the  centre  of  the  bay  an  island  has  been  formed  of  the  debris 
from  the  tunnel,  heaped  around  the  central  shaft,  whence  tunnels  were  cut 
eastward  and  westward,  to  meet  those  being  driven  from  the  shafts  on  the 
mainland.  The  great  five-acre  reservoir  on  Moon  Island  will  have  cost 
upwards  of  $800,000.  It  is  being  constructed  by  the  Cape  Ann  Granite 
Company,  by  digging  out  the  northern  part  of  the  grassy  hill,  stoning  and 
cementing  it  inside,  and  defending  it  by  a  ponderous  sea-wall  on  the  outside. 
It  will  have  four  compartments  with  a  capacity  of  25.000,000  gallons.  The 
sewage  is  to  be  stored  here  during  the  time  of  one  tide,  and  poured  into 
the  harbor  about  two  hours  after  the  ebb-tide  has  fairly  begun.  Accord- 
ing to  the  experiments  carefully  made  by  the  engineers,  the  receding  tide 
will  carry  it  eastward  between  Long  and  Rainsford   Islands,  and  between 


AYAV.V    HANDBOOK   OF  /WSTOJV  HARBOR.  \0J 

Gallop's  and  George's  Islands,  and  throw  it  against  the  Brewsters,  and 
thence  into  the  open  sea.     Fancy  the  consternation  of  the  lobsters ! 

Farther  to  the  northward,  across  Old  Harbor,  rise  the  crowded  heights 
of  South  Boston,  now  an  important  section  of  the  Massachusetts  metropo- 
lis. There  were  a  large  number  of  Indians  living  on  this  now  populous 
peninsula  until  the  time  of  the  great  pestilence,  when  so  many  died  that 
they  were  left  on  the  ground  unburied,  and  the  survivors  fled  in  pi-ofound 
terror.  For  many  decades  after  the  settlement  of  this  region  by  the  whites, 
great  numbers  of  Indians  used  to  congregate  here  on  a  certain  day  of  each 
year,  and  hold  a  commemorative  feast,  in  which  all  the  articles  eaten  were 
products  of  the  sea.  The  locality  was  at  the  south  end  of  the  present  K 
Street.  The  Indians  called  this  handsome  peninsula  by  the  name  of  Mat- 
iapan  or  Mattapannock ;  and  after  Dorchester  was  settled,  in  1630,  it  was 
a  common  pasture,  abounding  in  rich  grass  and  diversified  by  clumps  of 
trees.  In  1660  the  first  building  was  erected,  by  Deacon  James  Blake;  and 
in  1775  there  were  nine  houses  here,  the  finest  of  which  was  the  mansion 
of  the  Fosters,  one  of  whom  designed  the  present  State  seal.  On  the  night 
of  March  4,  1776,  Gen.  Thomas  occupied  the  heights,  with  2,000  Conti- 
nental soldiers  and  400  carts  of  fascines  and  intrenching  tools,  his  men 
being  forbidden  to  speak  above  a  whisper.  The  moon  shone  brightly,  and 
by  morning  two  formidable  forts  appeared  on  the  hill ;  and  Lord  Howe 
exclaimed  in  dismay,  "  The  rebels  have  done  more  in  one  night  than  my 
whole  army  would  have  done  in  a  month."  The  British  positions  in  Boston 
were  commanded  at  all  points  by  the  guns  on  the  heights ;  and  Washington 
was  so  sure  that  an  attack  would  be  made,  that  he  had  the  entire  militia 
force  of  Massachusetts  called  into  his  camps,  and  concentrated  his  floating 
batteries  and  boats  at  Cambridge,  ready  to  carry  4,000  soldiers  to  land  on 
Boston  Common,  and  fall  upon  the  British  garrison,  while  his  best  forces 
should  be  engaged  on  the  heights.  2,400  regulars  were  sent  to  the  Castle, 
under  Earl  Percy,  to  storm  the  new  batteries  ;  and  this  chosen  force  would 
probably  have  been  well-nigh  exterminated  but  that  a  strong  gale  sprang 
up  and  made  it  impossible  for  them  to  land.  The  British  generals,  finding 
it  inconvenient  to  exist  in  a  town  so  commanded  by  hostile  batteries,  made 
haste  to  get  away;  and  the  right  wing  of  the  American  army,  posted  on 
Dorchester  Heights,  watched  their  departure  with  great  joy. 

In  1814  new  defensive  works  were  constructed  here,  and  several  regi- 
ments of  militia  went  into  barracks  to  protect  them.  One  night  a  false 
alarm  was  caused,  by  boats  burning  blue  lights  in  the  harbor.  The  garri- 
son formed  hastily  in  the  darkness,  and  more  than  a  third  of  the  soldiers 
fled  incontinently  into  Dorchester.  Thirty  years  later  a  large  town  had 
risen  here,  with  famous  ship-yards,  one  of  which  launched  twenty-seven 
ships  within  ten  years.     Among  the  chief  industries  of  the  present  time  is 


I08  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  manufacture  of  iron,  in  which  South  Boston  has  but  two  or  three  rivals 
in  America. 

In  1803,  foreseeing  the  future  magnitude  of  Boston,  Messrs.  Tudor, 
Green,  and  Mason  bought  most  of  the  peninsula  as  a  speculation.  The 
ensuing  annexation  movement  was  resisted  by  Dorchester,  but  without 
success ;  and  in  1804  the  territory  became  a  part  of  Boston,  and  its  land 
rose  to  a  tenfold  value.  There  were  then  19  voters  here;  in  1840  there 
were  6,176  inhabitants;  in  1855,  16,612;  and  now  there  are  upwards  of 
60,000. 

The  low  promontory  of  City  Point,  the  most  easterly  part  of  South 
Boston,  is  the  paradise  of  yachtsmen.  Here  scores  (and  sometimes  hun- 
dreds) of  pleasure-boats  of  all  classes  are  to  be  seen,  —  in  winter  hauled  up 
in  yards  and  on  wharves,  covered  with  canvas,  and  partly  dismantled ;  and 
in  summer,  straining  at  their  cables  in  the  blue  waters  off-shore,  graceful, 
dainty,  and  apparently  full  of  bounding  life  and  pride.  More  than  a  dozen 
yacht-clubs  have  moorings  he^re,  including  vessels  from  ports  scores  of 
miles  away.  Here,  too,  are  the  yards  of  the  shipwrights  who  make  these 
fair  little  ladies  of  the  sea,  carrying  out  in  careful  lines  and  exquisite  deco- 
rations the  pet  theories  of  the  sportsman,  or  the  costly  vagaries  of  the 
millionnaire.  On  shore  there  are  half  a  dozen  taverns,  frequented  by  these 
amateur  mariners  and  their  sailors ;  and  a  seaside  theatre,  much  patronized 
on  summer  evenings,  and  within  half  an  hour  of  Boston  Common  by 
horse-cars.  That  portion  of  South  Boston  which  lies  to  the  eastward  of 
Q  Street  is  to  be  laid  out  by  the  city  as  a  water-front  esplanade,  together 
with  more  than  twenty  acres  of  the  adjacent  flats,  which,  when  filled  and 
graded,  will  form  the  City-Point  Battery,  where  the  people  may  come  to 
enjoy  the  music  of  the  band,  the  pleasant  sight  of  the  ships  and  islands  in 
the  harbor,  and  the  delicious  and  bracing  sea-winds.  Even  now  thousands 
of  people  come  hither  on  a  warm  day,  to  be  refreshed  by  the  views  and 
the  salty  coolness,  or,  perchance,  to  enjoy  the  sea-baths  in  the  spacious 
bath-houses  which  have  been  built  here. 

Among  the  yachts  are  sloops,  schooners,  steam-launches,  and  many 
convenient  and  swift  little  cat-boats.  They  lie  at  their  moorings,  in  fairly 
deep  water,  and  quite  out  of  danger,  because  large  vessels  rarely  enter  this 
part  of  the  harbor.  Another  marked  advantage  of  this  locality  is  its  com- 
parative vicinity  to  the  lower  roads  and  the  sea,  enabling  the  yachts  to 
reach  blue  water  much  more  quickly  than  from  the  inner  wharves  of  the 
port.  The  club-houses  of  the  Boston  and  South  Boston  Yacht-Clubs  are 
at  City  Point.  During  the  summer  a  small  sailboat  and  skipper  may  be 
hired,  at  the  public  landings,  for  75  cents  an  hour;  and  rowboats  cost 
about  30  cents  an  hour.  The  steamboat  City  Point,  built  in  1882,  and  with 
accommodations   for  300   passengers,  runs   several  times    daily  from   this 


Wf,.:\% 


HOUSE   OF   THE    BOSTON    YACHT-CLUB,    CITY    POINT. 


I  IO 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


locality  to  various  points  in  the  upper  harbor,  such  as   Long    Island  and 
Point  Shirley. 

This  bustling  haven  of  summer-pleasurers  was  once  the  remotest  and 
most  solitary  corner  of  Boston.  In  those  ancient  days  the  adjacent  hills 
often  re-echoed  the  roaring  of  the  eighteen-pounders  of  that  oddest  of  mili- 
tary corps,  the  Sea  Fencibles,  —  a  coast-guard  composed  of  the  ship-masters 
who  were  left  stranded  in  Boston  by  the  war  and  blockade  of  1812.  In  their 
blue  short-jackets  and  white  trousers,  with  anchor-emblazoned  glazed  hats, 
these  jolly  tars  would  march  to  City  Point,  with  unsteady  rolling  gait,  and 
there  fire  their  big  guns  at  floating  targets.  The  soldiers  carried  boarding- 
pikes  and  cutlasses,  and  yearned  for  a  chance  to  use  their  primitive  weapons 
against  the  hated  Britishers.  The  valorous  sea-dogs  are  now  all  in  their 
graves,  and  the  American  commerce  which  they  loved  so  well  is  buried 
with  them.  But  the  great  flotilla  of  pleasure-boats  off  City  Point  bears 
witness  that  the  old  maritime  spirit  is  still  strong  in  New-England  men. 


Captain  John  Smith. 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  I  1 1 


!£ast  Boston  (NooWs  Mano). 

MAVERICK.  — BATTLE-DAYS.— YANKEE  CLIPPERS.  —  BREED'S  ISLAND. 

MILE  and  a  half  north  of  South  Boston,  across  the 
inner  harbor  (at  whose  western  end  rise  the  wharves  and 
hills  of  Boston),  is  the  Island  Ward  of  East  Boston, 
covering  more  than  a  square  mile,  and  connected  with 
the  city  by  three  steam-ferries,  and  with  the  mainland  on 
the  north  by  several  bridges.  This  locality  was  for 
over  two  centuries  known  as  Noddle's  Island,  from  William  Noddle,  who 
was  probably  sent  out  by  Brereton,  and  settled  upon  it  in  1629,  before 
Boston  was  founded.  This  pioneer  was  a  bachelor,  and  the  name  is  extinct. 
Sir  William  Brereton  received  an  early  grant  of  it;  but  the  first  conspicuous 
settler  was  Samuel  Maverick,  Gent,  who  erected  a  small  fortified  mansion, 
with  artillery  to  defend  it,  and  was  in  comfortable  possession  and  authority 
long  before  Winthrop's  fleet  entered  the  Bay.  The  Puritans,  coming  later, 
allowed  Maverick  to  remain  here,  on  payment  yearly  of  "a  fatt  weather, 
a  fatt  hogg,  or  XLs.  in  money ; "  although  it  is  most  likely  that  he  was  an 
adherent  of  the  Gorges  government,  together  with  Walford,  Blackstone, 
and  Morton.  He  certainly  lived  under  the  stigmas  of  being  an  Episco- 
palian and  a  Royalist,  and  met  with  annoying  persecutions  from  the  Boston 
authorities.  Maverick  was  the  first  New-England  slaveholder,  when  Capt. 
Pierce  brought  negroes  hither  from  the  Tortugas,  in  1638,  and  sold  them 
in  Boston.  In  1645,  after  La  Tour's  terrible  enemy,  D'Aulnay,  had  stormed 
the  fort  at  St.  John,  and  sailed  away  with  his  plate  and  treasures,  leaving 
Madame  La  Tour  dead  of  a  broken  heart,  the  unhappy  chieftain  came  to 
Maverick's  little  castle,  where  he  spent  the  dreary  winter.  Not  long  after- 
wards the  godly  brethren  of  Boston  made  new  encroachments  on  the  rights 
of  their  prelatical  neighbor,  and  he  found  himself  forced  to  depart  from 
the  fair  island-home.     Some  years  later  he  died  at  New  Amsterdam. 

During  their  time  of  suffering  from  persecution,  about  1660-70,  the 
Baptists  of  Boston  used  to  meet  here,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  worshipping  at  Noddle's  Island  in  New  England."  The  poor 
fellows  labored  under  all  sorts  of  disadvantages  in  town ;  but  in  this  insular 
sanctuary  their  worship  was  undisturbed,  until  the  slow  liberalization  of 
Massachusetts  gave  them  opportunity  to  enter  Boston  as  accepted  Christian 
brethren.     A  century  later  the  comfortable  Williams  mansion  was  the  pride 


112  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

of  the  island;  and  Putnam,  Knox,  Lincoln,  and  the  clergy  of  Boston  made 
frequent  visits  here.  The  house  was  graced  by  six  comely  daughters,  whose 
harpsichord  was  the  forerunner  of  musical  Boston ;  and  the  hills  on  the 
island  gave  pasturage  to  43  horses  and  223  cattle.  After  this  house  was 
burned,  in  the  skirmish  of  1775,  Washington  gave  Mr.  Williams  one  of  the 
Continental  barracks  at  Cambridge,  which  he  moved  down  to  the  island, 
and  remodelled  into  a  new  mansion.  During  the  siege  of  Boston  a  score 
of  young  ladies  left  the  beleaguered  town,  and  took  refuge  on  Noddle's 
Island,  perhaps  in  this  well-known  house  of  Williams.  One  of  these  was 
especially  dear  to  William  Tudor,  the  judge-advocate-general  of  the  Ameri- 
can army ;  and  he  used  to  visit  her  frequently,  passing  from  Cambridge  to 
Chelsea,  where  he  undressed,  and  tied  his  clothing  in  a  bundle,  fastened 
upon  his  head;  after  which  he  swam  to  the  island,  resumed  his  garments, 
and  called  upon  the  fair  lady.  The  result  of  these  Hellespontic  wooings 
was  a  happy  marriage,  whence  came  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  in  later 
days  patricians  of  the  good  Commonwealth. 

Passing  abruptly  from  love  to  war,  we  find  that  on  this  same  island  was 
fought  the  second  battle  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  first  in  which  the 
American  artillery  was  used.  On  May  27,  1775,  Gen.  John  Stark  and  300 
men  were  sent  to  clear  out  the  live  stock  on  Noddle's  Island  ;  and  after 
they  had  driven  400  sheep  inland  from  Breed's  Island,  they  engaged  the 
British  marines  on  Noddle's,  but  were  driven  back  when  large  re-enforce- 
ments of  regulars  crossed  from  Boston.  In  the  mean  time  Gen.  Gage  sent 
a  schooner  armed  with  sixteen  small  guns,  and  eleven  barges  full  of  marines, 
up  Chelsea  Creek,  to  cut  off  the  raiders  ;  while  Putnam  came  to  their  relief 
with  300  men  and  two  guns.  The  fight  lasted  all  night ;  but,  although  fresh 
troops  poured  over  from  Boston,  the  Americans  forced  the  crew  of  the 
schooner  to  abandon  her  and  flee,  and  drove  back  the  other  vessels.  They 
took  the  artillery  from  the  captured  vessel,  and  then  burnt  her,  and  retired 
to  the  mainland,  having  inflicted  severe  loss  on  the  British  forces.  Lord 
Percy  was  immensely  disgusted  at  this  affair,  and  wrote  home  to  his  father : 
"  The  rebels  have  lately  amused  themselves  with  burning  the  houses  on  an 
island  just  under  the  admiral's  nose  ;  and  a  schooner,  with  four  carriage- 
guns  and  some  swivels,  which  he  sent  to  drive  them  off,  unfortunately  got 
ashore,  and  the  rebels  burned  her."  Philip  Freneau,  the  poet  of  the  Revo- 
lution, makes  Gen.  Gage  speak  thus,  at  this  time,  referring  to  the  partial 
famine  caused  by  the  American  raids  on  the  islands :  — 


1  Three  weeks,  ye  gods  !  nay,  three  long  years  it  seem*, 
Since  roast  beef  I  have  touched,  except  in  dreams. 
In  sleep,  choice  dishes  to  my  view  repair  : 
Waking,  I  gape,  and  champ  the  empty  air. 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  II3 

Come,  let  us  plan  some  object,  ere  we  sleep, 
And  drink  destruction  to  the  rebel  sheep. 
On  neighboring  isles  uncounted  cattle  stray, 
Fat  beeves  and  swine,  — an  ill-defended  prey  : 
These  are  fit  visions  for  my  noon-day  dish." 

In  1 780  there  were  many  sick  men  on  the  French  fleet  in  the  harbor, 
and  barracks  were  erected  on  the  island  for  hospitals.  The  poor  fellows 
christened  their  gloomy  quarters  Ulle  de  France;  but  small  comfort  did 
they  find  in  that,  with  dead  soldiers  being  borne  to  the  burying-ground  every 
hour.  The  mortality  was  serious,  and  many  a  good  Gaulish  veteran  was 
laid  to  his  eternal  rest  on  the  hills  of  Noddle's  Island.  After  the  British 
forces  evacuated  Boston  the  island  was  strongly  fortified. 

The  same  works  were  renewed  and  and  strengthened  in  181 2,  under  the 
name  of  Fort  Strong,  having  been  re  erected  by  various  patriotic  societies, 
and  guilds  of  tradesmen  and  mechanics,  each  of  which  marched  to  the 
place  on  their  appointed  days.  After  the  removal  of  the  barracks  in  1833, 
the  walls  of  the  fort  were  allowed  to  waste  away.  In  1819  Lieuts.  White 
and  Finch  of  the  United-States  Navy  fought  a  duel  here ;  and  the  former 
was  killed,  according  to  the  code  of  honor. 

The  growth  of  the  city  of  East  Boston  on  these  historic  pastures  of  Nod- 
dle's Island  has  been  at  once  rapid  and  solid.  In  1833  there  were  8  inhab- 
itants here  ;  in  1835,  600;  in  1847,  6,500;  in  1880,  close  upon  30,000.  The 
island  is  now  covered  with  paved  streets,  bordered  by  a  surprising  number 
of  trees,  and  the  houses  of  a  great  industrial  and  maritime  community. 
The  population  of  the  island  is  about  equal  to  that  of  Mobile,  Savannah, 
Memphis,  Trenton,  Utica,  or  Wheeling. 

Some  of  the  finest  ships  that  ever  sailed  were  constructed  here  by 
Donald  McKay,  vessels  beautifully  finished  and  furnished,  and  built  for 
great  speed.  The  Flying  Cloud,  1,700  tons,  made  the  passage  to  San 
Francisco  in  89  days,  being  the  quickest  ever  known.  The  Sovereign  of  the 
Seas,  2,400  tons,  was  the  longest  and  sharpest  clipper  ever  built,  and  once 
made  a  run  of  430  geographical  miles  in  24  hours.  She  earned  $200,000  in 
less  than  a  year.  The  Fmpress  of  the  Seas  held  high  rank  among  the 
famous  clippers  of  the  same  epoch.  The  Great  Republic  was  the  largest 
wooden  sailing-ship  ever  built.  Her  4,556  tons  included  1,500,000  feet  of 
hard  pine,  336  tons  of  iron,  and  an  immense  amount  of  white  oak.  She 
sometimes  made  19  knots  an  hour,  under  full  sail;  and  went  from  New  York 
to  San  Francisco  in  91  days.  Between  1848  and  1858  more  than  170  vessels 
were  built  at  East  Boston ;  of  which  99  exceeded  1,000  tons  each,  and  9  were 
above  2,000  tons.  These  were  the  famous  racers,  which  swept  around  Cape 
Horn,  and  up  through  the  South  Seas,  crowded  with  the  Argonauts  in 
search  of  El  Dorado.     Others  belonged  to  the  Liverpool  packet-line,  and 


114  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

made  regular  trips  across  the  Atlantic  for  many  years,  exciting  the  keen  and 
jealous  admiration  of  our  British  cousins. 

The  Atlantic  Works,  on  this  island,  have  built  iron  steamships  for  Rus- 
sia, Egypt,  Paraguay,  China,  and  the  East  Indies :  the  monitors  Nantucket 
and  Cascoj  the  turrets  of  several  other  iron-clads ;  the  engines  for  many 
American  frigates ;  and  entire  fleets  of  ferry-boats  and  tugs.  Other  neigh- 
boring shipyards  and  works  have  done  their  share  in  creating  that  famous 
American  marine  which  once  was  the  wonder  of  all  maritime  nations. 

Extensive  and  well-matured  plans  are  in  process  of  elaboration,  by  which 
the  broad  flats  to  the  eastward  will  be  converted  into  docks  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude, capable  of  accommodating  the  largest  ocean-steamships,  and  easily 
approached  from  the  deep-water  channels.  What  with  the  great  wharves 
of  the  Cunard  and  other  lines  ;  the  elevators,  ship-yards,  and  marginal  rail- 
ways; and  the  Grand-Junction  wharves,  East  Boston  is  the  most  important 
part  of  the  Puritan  city,  in  a  commercial  point  of  view. 

Breed's  Island,  north-east  of  East  Boston,  was  first  known  as  Susanna 
/stand,  in  honor  of  the  daughter  of  Sir  William  Brereton,  to  whom  it  was- 
granted  (in  1628)  by  John  Gorges.  The  Puritans  found  the  practical  name 
of  Hog  Island  more  to  their  taste,  and  thus  it  remained  for  more  than  a 
century.  Late  in  the  last  century  it  was  named  Belle  Isle  by  Russell,  who 
owned  it;  but  the  old  name  clung  tenaciously,  and  is  still  sometimes  heard* 
In  1687  Judge  Sewall,  in  the  presence  of  numerous  chosen  witnesses,  took 
possession  of  Hog  Island,  by  the  ancient  rite  of  "taking  Livery  and  seised 
of  the  Hand  by  Turf  and  Twigg  and  the  House."  Here  he  built  a  wharf 
and  planted  various  kinds  of  trees,  and  kept  a  large  flock  of  sheep.  He 
held  the  domain  for  many  years,  making  divers  improvements,  and  deriving 
a  fair  revenue  therefrom.  About  the  year  1800  the  island  was  bought  by 
John  Breed,  a  wealthy  English  gentleman,  who  had  been  well-nigh  heart- 
broken by  the  death  of  his  betrothed  bride,  near  the  time  appointed  for  the 
wedding,  and  afterwards  sought  only  to  bury  himself  from  the  world.  Here 
he  had  a  rich  hay-farm,  with  a  score  of  workmen,  an  overseer,  and  a  house- 
keeper. He  built  the  house  whose  remains  are  now  visible  on  the  south 
slope  of  the  hill,  —  a  singular  stone  structure,  200  feet  long  and  one  story 
high,  with  terraced  gardens  in  front  of  it,  and  nurseries  in  which  nectarines, 
apricots,  and  other  fruits  were  cultivated.  But  in  time  death  carried  off  this 
peaceful  agricultural  hermit,  and  his  domain  passed  to  other  uses.  It  is 
now  being  rapidly  taken  up  as  a  seaside  settlement ;  and  upon  the  long  and 
lofty  ridge  many  pretty  cottages  have  already  been  erected,  each  with  its- 
view  of  sea  or  harbor,  or  rugged  hills  of  Essex. 


ICING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


"5 


Hfcural  attti  Puritan  SHmttyroB* 

SUNNYSIDE,  COTTAGE  PARK,   CRYSTAL   BAY,  AND  OCEAN   SPRAY. 
POINT  SHIRLEY. 

UT  from  the  main,  east  and  south,  and  forming  the  northern 
shelter  of  Boston  Harbor,  runs  the  peninsular  town  of  Win- 
throp.  It  is  beautifully  diversified  with  hills  and  meadows, 
isthmuses  and  coves ;  and,  although  but  989  acres  in  area,  it 
,  /*  has  eight  miles  of  beach.  The  thousand  inhabitants  of  this 
sea-girt  corporation  are  served  by  an  odd  little  narrow-gauge  railway,  diver- 
ging from  the  Boston,  Revere  Beach  and  Lynn  Railway  at  Winthrop  Junc- 
tion, and  running  hourly  trains  down  over  the  marshes  to  Great  Head  and 
Point  Shirley,  stopping  at  every  street.  A  branch  line  leaves  the  Eastern 
Railroad,  back  of  Revere  Beach,  and  runs  down  into  Winthrop,  heading 
toward  Point  Shirley,  which  it  will  probably  reach  within  a  few  months. 

The  chief  village  stands  on  the  pleasant  high  ground  nearly  midway 
between  the  sea  and  the  harbor,  and  commands  fine  views  in  either  direc- 
tion, on  one  side  to  Nahant  and  Marblehead,  and  over  the  open  ocean;  and 
on   the    other    to   the   fortified  islands  and  the  Blue  Hills  of  Mil- 

ion.     It  is  a  pretty  New-Eng-       ggQ|        land  hamlet,  without  a  touch    of 

suburbanism,    and    as    rural   and 


A  Fisherman's  Home,   Point  Shirley 

simple  as   if  it  were  inwalled  by 
the  distant  hills  of  Berkshire  or  Aroos- 
took.     Two  or  three  country  stores,  a 
bleak  town-hall,  two  comfortable  wooden  churches,  a 
few  dignified  and  emparked  mansions,  half   a  dozen 

residences  of  village  magnates,  and  several  score  of  neat  and  embowered 
houses  of  the  yeomanry,  —  these  elements  compose  the  familiar  picture,  the 
same  here  as  in  hundreds  of  other  places  in  these  six  Yankee  sovereignties. 
Within  short  cannon-shot  of  the  State  House,  and  overlooking  the  great 


Il6  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

channel  of  commerce  and  its  procession  of  ships,  remains  a  village  in 
which  Judd's  Margaret  might  find  herself  at  home.  The  ghost  of  Gov. 
Winthrop,  flying  from  Irish-Italian-Portuguese  Boston,  may  rest  here,  on 
his  son's  summer  farm,  and  say,  "  What !  and  grown  so  little  in  a  quarter  of 
a  millennium  !  "  It  is  still  remarkably  free  from  the  foreign  element,  and 
consequently  enjoys  almost  a  complete  immunity  from  pauperism  and  crime. 
Liquor  is  legally  banished  from  its  borders,  a  fact  to  which  the  delightful 
peacefulness  and  decorum  of  the  beach  villages  may  be  attributed.  Bibu- 
lous roisterers  find  a  woefully  dry  country  south-east  of  Revere  Beach,  and 
make- no  second  visits  there. 

To  the  south  of  the  village,  overlooking  the  harbor,  and  surrounded  by 
plantations  of  small  trees,  is  the  stately  old  mansion  which  was  formerly 
occupied  by  Mr.  C.  L.  Bartlett,  the  well-known  shipping-merchant  of  Bos- 
ton. Hence  his  chivalrous  son  rode  lightly  away  to  enter  the  Federal  army 
in  1861  ;  and  hither  he  was  brought  back  three  years  later,  wounded  almost 
to  death,  and  with  barely  strength  to  write,  as  he  felt  the  pure  air  of  the 
Bay  replace  the  malaria  of  Virginia,  "  This  being  at  home  is  delicious  ;  com- 
fort and  rest."  In  1853  the  great  Italian  patriot,  Garibaldi,  who  came  to 
Boston  in  command  of  a  ship  from  South  America,  was  entertained  for 
some  time  as  a  guest  at  this  place ;  and  thirteen  years  later,  when  Gen. 
W.  F.  Bartlett,  the  merchant's  son,  was  in  Italy,  he  received  an  invitation  to 
Caprera,  where  he  made  a  pleasant  visit  with  the  Garibaldi  family.  The 
lad,  with  whom  the  grand  Latin  patriot  had  rambled  along  the  shores  of 
Winthrop,  had  now  become  a  veteran  general  officer,  full  of  deep  and  terri- 
ble experiences.  In  four  years  the  college-boy  had  risen  from  the  ranks  to 
the  command  of  a  division ;  had  suffered  several  grievous  wounds  and 
gloomy  captivity;  and  returned  home,  broken  by  hardship,  and  under  the 
shadow  of  approaching  death.  These  verses  are  from  the  poem  which 
Whittier  wrote,  after  the  young  hero's  death  :  — 

"  Mourn,  Essex,  on  thy  sea-blown  shore, 
Thy  beautiful  and  brave, 
Whose  failing  hand  the  olive  bore, 
Whose  dying  lips  forgave  ! 

"  As  Galahad  pure,  as  Merlin  sage, 
What  worthier  knight  was  found 
To  grace  in  Arthur's  golden  age 
The  fabled  Table  Round  ?  " 

After  the  death  of  the  gallant  young  general,  the  Bayard  of  the  army, 
the  estate  passed  into  other  hands.  Farther  toward  the  city,  on  a  pictur- 
esque point  projecting  into  the  harbor,  stands  the  fine  old  mansion  occupied 
for  so  many  years  by  the  eminent  educator,  George  B.  Emerson,  and  often 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  JIANKOh'. 


117 


visited  by  Agassiz  and  other  scholars.  The  great  trees  which  shade  the 
avenues,  and  grounds  were  planted  by  his  own  hand,  and  greatly  beautify 
the  place. 

The  quaint  old  farmhouse  which  still  stands  on  Shirley  Street  is  said 
to  have  been  the  home  of  Deane  Winthrop,  the  sixth  son  of  Gov.  Win- 
throp.  It  was  built  probably  as  early  as  1649;  anc^  nere  the  honorable 
governor  and  other  colonial  magnates,  including  also  Chief-Justice  Sewall, 
made    many  summer  visits.     Here  Deane   died,  in   the  year  1704,  having 


The  Old   Deane  Winthrop   House,    near  Ocean  Spray. 

lived  hereabouts  for  forty  years.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  town  of  Groton, 
which   he  named  for  the    home    of   his 

family  in  England.  A  little  way  beyond  this  ancient  house,  and  over  Ocean 
Spray,  is  the  noble  headland  of  Grover's  Cliff,  where  180  acres  of  rolling 
pasture-land  are  owned  by  the  corporation  of  Boston.  In  1867  the  city 
council  ordered  the  construction  of  a  new  and  magnificent  hospital  for  the 
insane,  on  this  estate  ;  but  the  mayor  vetoed  it,  being  opposed  to  such  a 
large  outlay  of  money,  and  also  objecting  to  the  establishment  of  a  public 
institution  on  an  exposed  headland.  The  subsequent  erection  of  the  State 
asylum  at  Danvers  rendered  it  unnecessary ;  and  the  land  remains  idle,  in 
possession  of  the  city.  Either  here  or  on  Great  Head,  the  future  citadel 
for  the  defence  of  Boston  Harbor  will  be  constructed,  to  prevent  vessels 
from  lying  off  in  the  Bay,  and  shelling  the  town. 

Winthrop  is  rich  in  summer  resorts,  on  her  sea-swept  shores.     Ocean 


u8 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


Spray  and  Point  Shirley  are  the  chief  ones,  but  Crystal  Bay  and  Sunny 
Side  and  Harbor  Avenue  each  has  its  advocates  and  habitues.  Sunny  Side 
is  a  little  group  of  summer  cottages,  with  boat-house,  wharf,  and  still-water 
beach,  fronting  southward  on  the  harbor,  near  Snake  Island  and  its  wide 
entourage  of  flats.  This  colony  of  sequestered  houses  is  usually  occupied 
of  late  years  by  the  Voices  family,  so  famous  in  the  annals  of  British  and 
American  comedy. 

Cottage  Park  is  another  cluster  of  cottages  fronting  on  the  harbor,  and 
mainly  occupied  by  summer  visitors  from  the  city.  It  is  on  a  bluff,  just  in- 
shore from  Apple  Island,  and  sheltered  from  easterly  storms  by  the  trees 
of  the  old  Bartlett  estate.  There  is  a  small  pier  here,  with  bath-houses, 
arbors,  and  other  appurtenances.  The  view  across  the  harbor  to  the  Blue 
Hills  is  full  of  impressive  beauty ;  while  on  the  right,  three  miles  distant, 
appear  the  massed  houses  and  many  spires  of  Boston.     In  this  prosperous 


little  summer  village 
stands  the  Hotel  Win- 
throp,  a  large  new 
boarding-house,  where 
the  cottagers  can  get  their  meals.  From  this  point,  the  view  extends  south- 
ward, over  the  graceful  elms  of  Apple  Island,  and  out  through  the  opales- 
cent air,  by  many  a  historic  islet  and  promontory ;  and  westward,  to  where 
the  red  sun  sets  behind  Boston, — 


"  Like  eye  of  God  aglare 
O'er  evening  city  with  its  boom  of  sin." 


These  pretty  pleasure-houses  are  but  the  formal  successors  of  the  sum- 
mer wigwams  of  the  red  men  who  were  once  lords  of  the  soil,  stalwart 
hunters  and  fishers,  and  gallant  archers.  The  Indians  who  dwelt  on  this 
side  of  the  harbor  were  of  the  Pawtucket  tribe,  whose  domains  reached  as 
far  as  Concord  and  Portsmouth.  The  head  of  the  clan  at  Chelsea  ( Winni- 
simmet)  was  Sagamore  John,  who  died  in  1633,  with  many  of  his  people. 
The  Winthrop  peninsula,  surrounded  with  fishing-grounds,  appears  to  have 
been  a  favorite  resort  of  the  red  men;  and  many  remains  of  their  wigwam 
villages  have  been  found  upon  it.     One  of  the  first  edicts  published  by  the 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


II9 


Puritans  at  Boston  established  a  game-preserve  here,  saying:  "That  noe 
pson  w'soeuer  shall  shoote  att  fowle  vpon  Pullen  Poynte  or  Noddles  Island, 
but  the  s<l  places  shalbe  reserved  for  John  Perkins  to  take  fowle  w'h  netts." 
In  1635  the  peninsula  became  a  common,  for  pasturage ;  and  Boston  caused 
a  house  and  cattle-yard  to  be  built  at  the  Point.  The  territory  appears  to 
have  been  occupied  subsequently  by  farms,  owned  by  non-resident  pro- 
prietors, who  kept  here  servants  and  tenants.  In  the  summer  they  some- 
times came  down  from  Boston,  to  enjoy  the  sea-air,  and  relief  from  the 
turmoil  of  the  town,  which  then  had  four  or  five  thousand  inhabitants. 
Deane  Winthrop  had  an  estate  of  120  acres  at  Pulling  Point,  and  here  "he 
was  wont  to  set  up  a  bush  when  he  saw  a  ship  coming  in."  Capt.  Gibbons 
also  had  a  place  near  by;  and  once  (in  1643)  his  wife  and  family,  on  their 
way  down  from  Boston  to  the  Point,  were  terribly  frightened  on  meeting 
La  Tour's  French  ship.    Slavery  flourished  here  in  those  ancient  times;  and 


Great   Head,    Winthrop 


the  negro  burying-ground  in  the  north  part  of  the  town  had  many  quaint 
monuments.  Connected  with  the  Bill  mansion,  on  Lincoln  Street  (now  over 
two  centuries  old),  were  several  sable  slaves ;  and  their  bills  of  sale  are  still 
preserved.  There  is  a  legend  that  one  of  these  negroes  buried  his  acquisi- 
tions,—  a  tea-kettle  overflowing  with  silver  coin,  —  and  died  without  reveal- 
ing its  whereabouts.  This  is  the  Captain  Kidd's  treasure  of  Winthrop,  and 
has  stimulated  no  end  of  delving  on  its  pleasant  headlands. 

Very  slender  are  the  threads  of  history  and  tradition  which  connect  the 
green  hills  of  this  country  town  with  the  outer  world.  She  rests  quietly  on 
the  shores,  watching  the  grand  promenade  of  the  commercial  fleets,  the 
dainty  quadrilles  of  the  yachts,  and  the  Terpsichorean  achievements  of 
the  breathless  steam-tugs,  which,  with  their  iron  hands  clasped  upon  those 
of  the  Mary  Jane  of  Liverpool,  or  the  Gypsy  Maid  of  Baltimore,  guide 
her,  in  a  stately  gliding  minuet,  down  the  mazy  channels,  to  the  outer  sea ; 


120  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

and  return,  up  the  blue  floor  of  waves,  leading  some  other  thousand-ton 
beauty,  the  Empress  of  the  Seas  perchance,  or  the  Saucy  Sally  of  Kenne- 
bunk,  or  La  Reina  Margherita  of  Genoa.  Meanwhile  Winthrop  placidly 
observes  the  scene,  the  fair  wall-flower  of  the  harbor. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  summer  villages  on  the  Massachusetts  coast 
is  this  prettily-named  district  of  Ocean  Spray,  in  the  town  of  Winthrop, 
with  its  beach  gently  curving  between  two  high  cliffs,  the  bright  wide  sea 
in  front  and  the  level  salt-marshes  behind.  The  line  of  beach  rests  at  one 
end  on  Great  Head,  and  at  the  other  on  Grover's  Cliff  and  the  unbroken 
green  slopes  of  the  city  estate.  The  view  includes  the  aristocratic  peninsula 
of  Nahant,  with  its  villas  and  cliffs,  about  four  miles  distant  across  the  Bay, 
and  reaching  far  out  into  the  water;  and  on  the  right  front  are  the  ragged 
and  picturesque  Brewster  islands,  off  the  mouth  of  Boston  Harbor.  The 
surf  is  usually  light,  and  bathing  is  quite  safe ;  but  during  easterly  and 
northerly  gales  there  is  a  tremendous  pounding  along  the  entire  line  of 
beach,  and  the  waves  leap  fifty  feet  high  over  the  adjacent  bars  of  Great 
Head  and  the  sea-walls  of  Deer  Island.  There  are  usually  a  few  yachts 
anchored  off  the  beach,  in  which  the  Spray  villagers  cruise  through  the 
narrow  seas  toward  the  North  Shore. 

Up  to  the  year  1875  the  site  of  this  village  was  a  barren  waste  of  gravel 
and  coast  grass,  whose  only  product  was  the  seaweed  washed  up  on  the 
beach,  and  whose  value  did  not  exceed  $40  an  acre.  In  1875  Dr.  Samuel 
Ingalls  bought  forty  acres  of  the  Wheeler  heirs;  laid  it  out  in  building-lots 
and  avenues ;  and  sold  many  of  the  former  at  auction,  at  i|  to  2  cents  a 
foot.  During  a  single  year  these  prices  were  quadrupled;  and  then  the  four- 
teen acres  bordering  on  Capt.  John  Tewksbury's  beach,  adjacent,  were  put 
upon  the  market.  There  are  now  several  scores  of  cottages  at  Ocean  Spray, 
mostly  of  a  more  attractive  order  of  architecture  than  is  usually  found  in 
beach-houses  ;  and  in  some  cases  they  are  .  spacious  and  substantial  villas, 
occupied  throughout  most  of  the  year.  The  arid  gravel  which  surrounds 
them  has  been  covered  with  loam,  and  laborious  attempts  at  gardening  have 
been  rewarded  with  some  measure  of  success.  The  local  summer  society 
is  peculiarly  homogeneous  and  mildly  evangelical,  with  every  evening  de- 
voted to  some  form  of  associated  pleasure,  musicales,  square  dances,  or 
chapel-going,  and  ending  early,  so  that  by  ten  o'clock  nearly  all  the  house- 
lamps  are  out,  and  the  resonant  music  of  the  low  surf  breaking  on  the  beach 
is  almost  the  only  sound  that  is  heard.  Ocean  Spray,  and  particularly  the 
part  outside  the  hotels,  is  a  place  for  rational  enjoyment  and  plenty  of  rest. 
The  spirit  of  Winthrop,  the  first  lord  of  the  manor,  seems  to  brood  over  it 
still. 

It  seems  somewhat  enigmatical  that  this  should  be  a  favorite  summer- 
house  for  actors :  yet  such  is  the  case,  and  the  merry  pranks  of  the  Vokeses 


KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


12  f 


and  other  stage  celebrities  are  often  rehearsed  among  these  beauties  of 
nature.  "  Near  The  Shirley  is  the  pretty  little  building  of  the  Casino, 
adapted  and  used  for  dancing  and  amateur  theatricals,  and  the  scene  of 
temperate  gayeties  throughout  the  livelong  summer.  At  the  north  end 
of  the  beach  is  The  Shirley,  a  comfortable  summer-hotel  of  modern  con- 
struction and  accommodations,  and  very  close  to  the  edge  of  the  surf.  The 
Winthrop-Beach  House  is  another  hotel  at  this  point,  somewhat  less  pre- 
tentious than  The  Shirley.  Near  the  southern  end  is  the  spacious  new- 
Hotel  St.  Leonards,  an  airy  and  well-built  structure,  close  alongside  the 
railway. 

Ocean  Spray  is  the  seat  of  one  of  Boston's  fairest  charities,  the  Seashore 
Home  for  sick  and  destitute  children,  transferred  here  from  Plymouth  in 


Boston,  from  Winthrop  Great  Head. 


1878;  and  every  season  taking  two  or  three  hundred  poor  children  from  the 
hot  and  unhealthy  streets  of  Boston,  and  placing  them  in  pure  air  and  good 
influences.  It  is  a  very  noble  and  satisfactory  work,  and  the  only  regret  is 
that  the  resources  of  the  institution  are  not  sufficient  to  care  for  a  vastly 
greater  number  of  these  innocents.  The  seventh  chapter  of  Book  IV.  of 
Michelet's  "  The  Sea"  {La  Meir)  should  be  read  as  a  preliminary  to  visiting 
this  beautiful  charity;  for  it  describes  the  foundation  of  the  first  seaside 
hospital  for  children,  which  was  done  by  the  majestic  old  city  of  Florence, 
but  little  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 

Great  Head,  or  Green  Hill,  about  half  a  mile  south  of  Ocean  Spray,  is 
a  symmetrical  curving  eminence,  100  feet  high,  from  whose  summit  very 
extensive  views  are  given  over  the  adjacent  bays  and  shores,  and  out  on  the 


122  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

open  sea.  The  railroad  passes  around  one  side  of  it,  over  the  beach;  and 
on  the  other  is  the  fine  carriage-road  to  Point  Shirley,  following  the  curves 
of  the  harbor.  Within  five  years  a  pretty  summer  village  has  grown  up 
around  Great  Head,  and  a  planked  walk  projects  into  Crystal  Bay,  for  the 
convenience  of  the  mariners  of  the  Winthrop  Yacht-Club.  The  new  con- 
struction is  securely  enrailed,  and  is  the  Brighton  Pier  of  this  quiet  resort, 
where  the  transient  citizens  may  "loaf,  and  invite  their  souls,"  and  feel  the 
sea  all  around  and  beneath  them,  without  fear  of  mal  du  mer.  This  placid 
sea  off  Winthrop  is  indeed  capable  of  profound  agitations,  and  many  a  ship 
has  been  dashed  in  pieces  against  the  heads  hereaway.  In  the  great  March 
storm  of  1878  four  vessels  were  driven  ashore  at  Ocean  Spray  and  Great 
Head ;  one  of  them  being  the  brig  Katahdin,  bound  from  Portland  to 
Matanzas,  and  wrecked  while  trying  to  make  Boston  Harbor.  Many  people 
came  down  from  the  neighboring  cities  to  see  these  helpless  victims  of  the 
gale,  beaten  by  the  foaming  sea. 

Winthrop  may  be  likened  in  its  outline  to  a  rose,  rising  from  the  blue 
sea,  and  opening  toward  Middlesex  County.  Curving  gracefully  from 
south-east  to  south,  over  a  mile  long,  and  generally  but  a  few  score  feet  in 
width,  the  stem  of  this  fair  Puritan  rose  of  Winthrop  ends  in  the  nodulous 
expansion  of  Point  Shirley,  with  its  tombs  of  dead  enterprises,  and  the 
long  level  of  Gut  Plain.  The  locality  was  relatively  much  more  important 
in  ancient  times  than  now,  and  is  often  mentioned  in  the  chronicles  of  the 
fathers.  One  of  the  first  appearances  of  the  name  was  in  September,  1631, 
when  "Will"1  Bateman  was  left  on  shore  of  Pullen  Poynte,  being  very 
sicke  and  weake."  Those  with  him  were  forced  to  return  home  to  Plymouth, 
leaving  him  what  provisions  they  had.  On  returning  two  days  later  they 
found  him  dead,  about  a  stone's-throw  from  where  they  left  him,  at  about 
high-water  mark.  "  Soe  the  jury  psents  that  he  dyed  by  God's  visitacon." 
In  1634  William  Wood  thus  described  the  region:  "The  opposite  shore  is 
called  Pullin-point,  because  that  is  the  usuall  Channel.  Boats  used  to  passe 
thorow  into  the  Bay ;  and  the  Tyde  being  very  strong,  they  are  constrayned 
to  goe  ashore  and  hale  their  Boats  by  the  sealing,  or  roades,  whereupon  it 
was  called  Pullen-pointP 

In  the  diary  of  the  Rev.  Noadiah  Russell  we  find  this  entry,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1682:  "  Being  on  Tuesday  at  night  a  snowy  stormy  night  Mr.  Horton 
master  of  a  ship  was  coming  up  to  Boston  but  by  reason  of  ye  violence  of 
ye  storm  and  ye  boysterousness  of  ye  sea  was  forct  to  run  on  shore  at 
Pullens  Poynt  where  ye  ship  was  staved  to  peices  3  men  drowned  ye  rest 
got  on  shore  on  an  Island  but  by  reason  of  ye  coldness  of  ye  weather  and 
their  want  of  clothing,  3  or  4  more  of  them  died  so  that  6  or  7  lost  their 
lives,  after  break  of  ye  day  they  knew  where  they  were  and  went  to  a  hous 
3-t  was  on  the  Island." 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON   HARBOR 


12' 


The  Boston  News-Letter  of  Sept.  13,  1753,  thus  announced  how  the  new 
fishing-station  here,  founded  by  capitalists  in  the  town,  was  opened:  "On 
Saturday  last  His  Excellency  the  Governour  [Shirley]  did  the  Proprietors 
of  Puffing-Point  the  Honour  of  dining  with  them  at  said  Point,  where  a 
very  elegant  Entertainment  was  prepar'd  for  him  ;  he  was  attended  thither 
by  the  Proprietors,  and  a  Number  of  Gentlemen  of  Distinction  from  the 
Town ;  he  was  saluted  with  fifteen  Guns  from  Castle  William  as  he  went 
down,  and  the  same  Number  when  he  return'd ;  and  was  receiv'd  at  the 
Point  with  all  the  Demonstrations  of  Joy  that  so  new  a  settlement  was 
capable  of.  His  Excellency  express'd  great  Satisfaction  on  finding  so  con- 
siderable an  Addition  to  that  valuable  Branch  of  Trade,  the  Cod-Fishery, 


.,!«,* 


I  Iff 


Old   Mansion,    Point  Shirley. 


and  hoped  the  Gentlemen  con- 
cern'd  would  meet  with  such  suc- 
cess as  to  make  them  ample  Amends  for  so  noble  an  Undertaking.  The  Pro- 
prietors, after  having  leave  from  his  Excellency,  gave  it  the  name  of  Point 
Shirley."  The  events  connected  with  its  christening  made  this  an  aristo- 
cratic summer  resort,  where  several  of  the  best  families  of  Boston  had  villas. 
Among  these  was  Governor  John  Hancock's  summer  home  ;  and  there  is  still 
preserved  a  letter  of  Edmund  Quincy,  sent  by  Mr.  Otis  to  Mrs.  Hancock, 
and  conveying  friendly  messages  to  other  families.  This  letter  was  sent "  via 
Apple  Island;"  most  of  the  peninsula  being  then  covered  with  forests,  except 
at  the  Point,  where  there  were  25  or  30  houses,  several  stores,  and  a  church. 
The  proprietors  spent  so  much  on  their  villas,  that  they  could  not  properly 
equip  the  fisheries ;  and  so  their  hopes  of  erecting  a  new  Gloucester  here 


124  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

were  disappointed.  But  the  place  made  a  good  camp-ground  in  1759,  when 
Bagley's  Massachusetts  regiment  lay  here  nine  days  before  embarking  for 
Louisburg.  In  1764,  when  small-pox  was  devastating  the  Province,  an 
inoculating  hospital  was  opened  at  Point  Shirley  by  the  Boston  doctors, 
aided  by  Dr.  Barnett  of  New  Jersey.  It  was  given  out  that  the  locality 
then  had  many  comfortable  and  decent  houses  to  accommodate  patients. 
The  Point  saw  a  gloomy  sight  in  November,  1775,  when  British  boats 
landed  here  with  300  aged  persons,  women,  and  children,  sent  out  of  the 
besieged  town  of  Boston. 

In  May,  1776,  when  the  Continental  privateers  Franklin  and  Lady 
Washington  were  stealing  out  of  Boston,  through  Shirley  Gut,  the  former 
grounded,  and  could  not  be  moved.  Here  the  two  vessels  were  attacked  by 
a  flotilla  of  boats  from  the  British  fleet  outside,  and  a  furious  battle  was 
fought  amid  the  whirling  eddies  of  the  strait.  The  man-of-war  barges  fired 
grape  and  langrage,  and  were  answered  by  the  cannon  of  the  Franklin, 
loaded  with  musket-balls,  and  the  swivels  of  the  Lady.  Pikemen  defended 
the  decks,  from  behind  high  boarding  nettings,  and  upset  two  of  the  barges 
with  boat-hooks.  After  a  half-hour  of  very  close  and  deadly  work,  the 
attacking  party  retreated,  and  the  saucy  little  cruisers  were  left  free  to  make 
sail  and  escape  to  sea.  The  next  morning  two  children,  playing  on  the 
Winthrop  shore,  found  there  an  overturned  British  barge,  and  the  dead 
body  of  a  royal  marine,  with  a  spear-wound  in  his  side.  He  was  buried  just 
to  the  eastward  of  the  old  Bartlett  mansion ;  and  Captain  Mugford,  the 
commander  of  the  Franklin,  who  was  slain  during  the  fight,  received  a 
stately  military  funeral  at  Marblehead. 

He  had  richly  earned  it;  for,  without  what  he  had  given  to  the  American 
army,  Gen.  Gage  could  have  driven  Washington's  half-armed  militiamen 
into  the  Berkshire  Hills.  While  the  frigate  Lively  lay  in  Marblehead  harbor, 
some  months  before,  Mugford  was  impressed  as  one  of  her  crew,  and  re- 
mained on  board  until  released  in  answer  to  the  supplications  of  his  wife. 
During  his  service  on  the  Lively,  he  heard  the  sailors  talking  of  a  great 
powder-ship  soon  expected  from  England;  and  so,  without  waiting  for  a 
commission,  he  put  to  sea  in  a  fishing-smack,  and  cruised  up  and  down  the 
bay  in  search  of  her.  At  last  the  coveted  vessel  hove  in  sight,  and  the 
innocent-looking  fisherman  sailed  up  alongside.  Suddenly  the  scene 
changed,  when  Mugford  made  fast  to  the  towering  British  ship,  released 
his  gallant  comrades  from  their  hiding-place  in  the  cabin,  boarded  the 
hostile  deck  with  a  rush,  and  carried  her  away  as  a  prize,  within  sight  of 
His  Majesty's  fleet  off  the  light-house.  She  was  called  the  Hope,  and 
her  cargo  of  powder  and  arms  became  more  than  a  hope  for  the  Continental 
array. 

A  rude  fortification  was  erected  on  the  hill,  during  the  Revolution,  to 


AT/NG'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


125 


defend  the  entrance  by  Shirley  Gut.  During  the  War  of  1812  the  frigate 
Constitution  once  stole  out  to  sea  through  this  narrow  strait,  escaping  the 
British  blockaders  that  were  hovering  off  the  harbor. 

About  the  year  1830  Sturgis  &  Parker  established  the  salt-business  here, 
and  erected  several  large  buildings.  To  this  the  contemporary  poet-laureate 
of  the  lower  harbor  thus  delicately  alludes  :  — 

"  Point  Shirley,  to  forget,  oh  muse, 
Indeed  would  be  a  fault, 
Which  Sturgis  never  would  excuse, 
Who  manufactures  salt." 


In  subsequent  years  the  Point  was  the  seat  of  the  extensive  works  of 


the  Revere  Copper  Company, 
main,  with  their  tall  brick 
above  are  queer  old  houses, 
evident  remains  of  old-time 


J i& 


ft 


whose  abandoned    buildings  still  re- 
chimneys.       On    the     little     mound 
rickety  and  spider-haunted,  but  with 
dignity.     Perhaps    these 
the    villas    of    the 
incial    era, 


A    Lobsterrman's  Cabin,    Point  Shirley. 

of  the  Hancocks  and  their  friends, 
where  the  fair  Puritan  ladies  dis- 
cussed the  fashions  of  the  time  of  King  George 
II.,  and  watched  the  Provincial  fleets  sailing  out  against  Louisburg,  or 
Quebec,  or  the  Spanish  Main,  with  their  husbands  and  sweethearts  on 
board.  The  poor  old  houses  are  disconsolate  enough  now,  looking  down 
on  the  industrial  Pompeii  of  the  copper-works,  and  out  on  the  calm  blue 
waters  beyond,  monuments  of  pathetic  dilapidation.  Harborward  from 
the  gloomy  and  silent  buildings  of  the  Revere  Copper  Company  is  a  rude 
colony  of  fishermen,  most  of  whom,  as  the  numerous  nets  bear  witness, 
are  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  lobsters.  In  and  about  their  cabins  are 
many  very  quaint  and  interesting  scenes,  connected  with  the  lives  and 
avocations  of  the  toilers  of  the  sea.  Several  of  their  homes  and  out- 
buildings are  the  cabins  and  upper  works  of  defunct  steamships  which  have 
been  burnt  on  Apple  Island;  and  the  state-room  which  sheltered  a  Knicker- 


126 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


bocker  princess  or  a  Beacon-Hill  Hypatia  may  now  give  protection  to  the 
domestic  animals  or  the  dripping  nets  of  a  Point-Shirley  lobsterman. 

Occasionally  a  premonitory  flutter  of  activity  animates  the  Point.     Some 
one  is  going  to  make  it  a  freighting-point  for  ocean-steamships,  with   a 

standard-gauge  track  connect- 
ing it  to  the  Eastern  Rail- 
road ;  some  one  else  is  going 
to  start  the  wheels  of  industry 
in  the  half-dismantled  copper- 
works  ;  or  a  great  company 
will  run  fast  excursion-steam- 
ers a  dozen  times  daily  from 
Boston  to  this  wharf,  to  rival 
the  glories  of  Nantasket.  But 
these  halcyon  days  never  come, 
and  again  the  amphibious  resi- 
dents resume  their  lives  of 
calm  serenity. 


Taft's  Hotel,  or  the  Point  Shirley  House, 

k — d close    to   the    strait    which    separates    Deer 

Island  from  the  Point,  has  been  conducted 
by  the  famous  caterer  Taft  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  is 
the  most  celebrated  resort  for  gourmets  in  all  New  England,  if  not  in 
America.  Through  all  these  passing  decades,  thousands  of  the  most  prom- 
inent men  of  Eastern   Massachusetts,  with  their  guests,  and  bon-vivants 


,.,:  .....-..-■..^■■•,;/:;.>- ,.:  :;;^,-'-.'-  '.-    '    ■,.:.,.  ;,J.^y^>.;-^.,,  ■..,:'     ?.;'■/;' 


^xJ9,.  %;§k*L&<&£>. 


128  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  have  enjoyed  the  delights  of  this  wonderful  and 
inexhaustible  larder.  Oftentimes  as  many  as  threescore  distinct  species  of 
fish  and  game  are  kept  here  in  stock  at  once,  the  birds  being  numbered  by 
thousands.  It  is  au  regie  for  the  Boston  gentleman  to  drive,  with  his  visitor 
from  the  South  or  West,  over  the  short  and  pleasant  road  to  Point  Shirley, 
and  there,  with  great  pride,  to  test  the  bewildering  variety  of  dainty  dishes 
which  Taft  has  on  his  menu,  from  the  rich  turbot  and  Spanish  mackerel,  the 
mullet  and  Mexican  bonetta,  to  the  paper-shell  clams,  grass  frogs,  and  soft- 
shell  crabs  —  from  Illinois  grouse  and  Erie  ducks  to  Delaware  rail  and  reed- 
birds,  Jersey  willets,  a  great  variety  of  snipe  and  plover,  and  humming-birds 
served  in  nut-shells.  Many  cosmopolitan  and  globe-trotting  gentlemen  have 
stated  their  conviction,  that,  while  Delmonico's  may  justly  claim  the  palm  of 
excellence  in  other  respects,  there  is  no  place  in  the  world  where  a  fish  and 
game  dinner  is  served  so  successfully  as  at  Taft's.  Here  the  famous  Atlantic 
Club  used  to  meet,  with  Holmes  and  Lowell,  Emerson  and  Longfellow,  and 
other  choice  spirits,  at  its  board ;  and  the  chiefs  of  the  literary  Boston  of 
to-day  are  familiar  with  this  favored  locality.  Many  another  group  of  hun- 
gering (and  thirsting)  patricians  has  found  happiness  here,  —  conclaves  of 
financiers,  re-unions  of  veteran  officers,  detachments  from  the  city  clubs,  and 
political  councils  often  seeking,  for  the  time,  no  more  formidable  task  than 
the  time-honored  (and  difficult)  one  of  throwing  stones  from  the  Point  on  to 
Deer  Island. 


We  have  followed  the  coast  of  Boston  Harbor,  from  the  finger-tip  of  Hull, 
along  wave-swept  Nantasket,  past  quaint  old  Hingham  and  Weymouth,  and 
historic  Ouincy  and  Dorchester,  by  the  eastern  wards  of  Boston,  and  down 
to  the  northern  peninsula,  gathering  here  and  there  a  bit  of  picturesque 
history,  a  half-forgotten  legend,  a  gem  from  the  rich  treasures  of  Motley  or 
Everett  or  Thoreau  or  Longfellow.  It  now  remains  to  sail  down  among 
and  through  the  islands,  and  so  on  out  to  sea :  — 

"  When  the  pink  sails  at  sunset  faded  out, 
Far,  far,  north-east,  when,  outward-bound,  the  fleet 
Left  home  and  love  behind,  and  steered  away." 


ICING'S   II AX D HOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


129 


Castle  Mattti   anti  JFort  Entiqjcntjence* 


THE  OLD   PURITAN   STRONGHOLD.  —  PROVINCIAL  AND   BRITISH   GARRISONS.— 
THE  VIRGIN   FORTRESS. 

ROWNING  over  the  channel,  zh  miles  from  Bos- 
ton, and  900  yards  from  South  Boston,  rise  the 
batteries  of  Castle  Island.  As  far  back  as#i853 
Dr.  J.  V.  C.  Smith  predicted  that  in  time  a 
solid  mass  of  buildings,  the  homes  of  300,000 
people,  would  extend  on  reclaimed  land  out  to 
Thompson's  Island.  The  present  Fort  Independ- 
ence is  a  handsome  and  substantial  stone  structure, 
erected  since  1850,  on  the  site  of  Castle  William.  It 
has  five  sides,  each  of  which  is  commanded  by  projecting 
bastions  and  flank  defences,  with  large  howitzers  in  the  casemates  and< 
15-inch  Rodman  guns  on  the  barbettes.  The  accuracy  and  enormous 
power  of  the  latter  have  been  tested  by  firing  at  targets  on  the  outer 
point  of  Thompson's  Island.  In  the  casemates  which  overlook  the  ship- 
channel  is  a  long  line  of  the  heaviest  guns,  with  a  formidable  battery  of  10- 
inch  smooth-bores  on  the  barbette  above,  protected  from  a  raking  fire  from 
down  the  harbor  by  very  thick  traverses.  There  are  several  outworks,  also, 
with  grim-looking  armaments,  and  long  lines  of  ponderous  guns  on  the 
parade-ground,  with  pyramids  of  black  cannon-balls  beside  them.  Probably 
Col.  Best,  who  commands  the  defences  of  Boston,  would  object  to  a  more 
technical  account  of  the  number  and  calibres  of  the  cannon  here,  which 
might  fall  into  the  hands  of  some  Chilian  or  Chinese  admiral,  and  forever 
frighten  hostile  vessels  from  the  front  of  the  city. 

Several  inclined  planes  and  stone  stairways  lead  from  the  enclosed  pen- 
tagonal parade-ground  to  the  top  of  the  rampart,  whence  very  charming 
views  are  afforded,  especially  across  the  islands  to  the  eastward.  Beneath, 
and  opening  toward  the  parade,  are  the  cavernous  quarters  of  the  garrison, 
the  storehouses,  bakeries,  ordnance-rooms,  and  other  adjuncts  of  a  fortress. 
Back  of  the  fort,  and  just  outside  its  picturesque  old  gate,  are  two  stately 
elms ;  and  a  line  of  chestnut  and  elm  trees  leads  thence  to  the  southward, 
towards  the  row  of  pretty  brown  cottages  which  were  once  used  for  the 
officers'  quarters.  The  rich  greensward  affords  pasturage  for  a  few  luxu- 
rious cows  and  a  sinecured  horse,  who  approach  the  infrequent  visitors  to 
the  island  with  a  kindly  interest,  born  of  uneventful  lives.     In  1804  the  Sec- 


I30  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

retary  of  War  wrote  to  Capt.  Freeman,  who  commanded  here  for  many 
long  years,  "  I  have  no  objection  to  two  cows  being  kept  for  the  use  of  the 
garrison  ;  but  I  cannot  conceive  there  will  be  any  use  for  a  horse  on  Castle 
Island."  The  cows  stay  on,  though  the  garrison  is  forever  gone ;  and  the 
nobler  animal  which  so  puzzled  Secretary  Dearborn,  eighty  years  ago,  still 
grazes  along  the  glacis.  Near  these  fragrant  pastures,  the  thick  grass  tan- 
gles itself  around  the  mouldering  wheels  of  a  battery  of  30-pound  Parrott 
guns,  which,  in  times  now  growing  ancient,  thundered  their  fatal  warnings 
among  the  hills  of  Virginia.  The  low  and  broad-based  white  building  near 
the  head  of  the  western  wharf  was  the  home  of  the  commanders  of  the 
fort,  where  Arnold,  De  Russey,  Hayes,  Best,  and  other  well-known  officers, 
had  their  headquarters,  and  dispensed  a  courtly  hospitality,  after  the  manner 
of  the  old  army  traditions.  The  architecture  of  the  house,  with  its  sur- 
rounding verandas,  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  planned  by  some  veteran 
from  the  far  Southern  posts,  —  from  Pensacola  perhaps,  or  Mobile  ;  and  the 
pathetic  little  forget-me-nots,  whose  clustering  blue-and-gold  stars  gleam  in 
the  weedy  and  neglected  garden,  may  be  mementoes  of  the  fair  ladies  of  the 
Hayes  family,  whose  father,  a  gray  old  general,  passed  hence  to  the  eternal 
soldiers'  home.  Near  the  west  front  of  the  fort  is  the  cemetery,  with  the 
graves  of  soldiers  who  have  died  within  thirty  years,  most  of  them  marked 
with  tablets  bearing  the  melancholy  word,  Unknown.  There  are  also  two  or 
three  forgotten  graves  of  Massachusetts  volunteers,  on  which  no  Decoration- 
day  flowers  are  laid ;  and  the  battered  old  tombstone  of  Edward  Pursley, 
who  died  here  in  1767.  Farther  out,  on  the  south  point  of  the  island,  is  the 
large  building  of  the  hospital,  through  which  these  veterans  made  their  last 
march.     One  of  the  quaint  old  epitaphs  in  the  garrison  cemetery  (now  lost) 

read  thus  :  "  Here  lies  the  body  of  John ,  aged  jo,  A  faithful  soldier, 

and  a  desperate  good  Gardener." 

In  the  250  years  during  which  this  island  has  been  the  main  bulwark  of 
the  port,  there  have  happened  many  strange  things,  many  quaint  occur- 
rences, and  many  tragic  episodes,  at  a  few  of  which  we  may  glance  in  pass- 
ing. The  fortress  had' its  birth  in  the  very  dawn  of  the  history  of  the  Bay 
colony,  even  before  Cromwell  bore  witness  to  the  virtues  of  religious  faith 
and  dry  powder.  Fort  Hill,  in  Boston,  was  adorned  with  a  battery  as  early 
as  1632;  but  the  cautious  Puritans  thought  it  would  be  better  to  hold  an 
enemy  at  bay  (if  need  came)  farther  down  the  harbor,  out  of  gunshot  of  the 
sacred  First  Church.  After  Winthrop  and  his  councillors  had  been  half 
frozen  at  Hull,  looking  for  a  place  to  build  "  ffortyficaeons,"  they  allowed  the 
question  to  rest  until  about  midsummer  of  1634,  when  Governor  Dudley  and 
his  Council,  with  "  divers  Ministers  and  others,''  visited  Castle  Island,  and, 
in  the  rich  beauty  of  a  July  afternoon,  voted  that  it  was  exactly  the  place 
for  a  fortress.     Two  platforms  and  a   small  earthwork  were  erected,  under 


KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARJWN 


131 


the  supervision  of  Roger  Ludlow  of  Dorchester;  the  General  Court  resolv- 
ing soon  afterwards  that  "The  ffort  att  Castle  Hand,  nowe  begun,  shalbe 
fully  pfected,  the  ordnance  mounted,  evry  other  thing  aboute  it  ffinished, 
before  any  other  ffort  ificacon  be  further  proceeded  in."  Captain  Simpkins,  of 
the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company,  became  the  first  commander 
of  the  Castle,  and  was  succeeded  by  Gibbons  and  Morris.  In  1635  one  of 
the  Castle  officers  was  Thomas  Beecher,  who  had  come  over  as  master 
of    the    Talbot,   in   Winthrop's  fleet.      Among  his  de-  ,.,,,., 

scendants  is  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Lieut. 
Morris  was  deposed  and  banished  from 
Massachusetts  in  1638,  because  he  sup- 
ported the  hated  Antinomian  heresy  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson.  He  had  also 
caused  great  scan- 
dal by  his 


Main  Gate,   Fort  Independence. 


adherence  to  the  flag  of  England,  whose  cross  was  deemed  heathenish  by  the 
Puritans.  The  St.  George's  cross  was  left  out  of  the  colors  of  the  Boston 
train-bands,  as  savoring  of  Popery,  but  remained  on  the  Castle  standard,  to 
avoid  trouble  with  England.  Sewall  wrote,  "  I  was  and  am  in  great  exercise 
about  the  Cross  to  be  put  into  the  Colours,  and  afraid  if  I  should  have  a  hand 
in't,  whether  it  may  not  hinder  my  Entrance  into  the  Holy  Land."    Other  zeal- 


132  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

ous  Puritans  even  made  way  with  the  Castle  flag,  and  the  masters  of  the  ships 
in  the  harbor  raised  great  complaints  thereat.  Harry  Vane,  who  was  then 
governor,  feared  that  if  these  honest  sailors  returned  to  England,  reporting 
that  there  was  no  standard  on  the  defences  of  Boston,  the  colonists  would 
be  denounced  as  rebels ;  wherefore  he  ordered  that  the  royal  colors  should 
be  displayed  at  the  Castle.  This,  as  the  ingenious  Rev.  John  Cotton 
pointed  out,  could  not  be  construed  as  an  approval  by  Boston  of  the  detested 
and  idolatrous  cross,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Castle  pertained  to  the 
king.  But  no  English  flag  could  be  found  in  the  town,  and  the  governor 
was  obliged  to  accept  one  offered  by  the  captain  of  a  ship.  Many  years 
later,  after  our  Sir  Harry  Vane  had  been  immortalized  in  one  of  Milton's 
noblest  sonnets,  he  led  the  Republican  party  in  the  English  Parliament, 
headed  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  rivalled  and  was  imprisoned  by 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  on  the  restoration  of  the  Stuart  monarchy  received 
the  crown  of  martyrdom  for  freedom,  meeting  his  death  like  a  very  gallant 
knight  and  gentleman. 

In  1635  three  cannon  (one  of  which  belonged  to  Deputy-Gov.  Belling- 
ham)  were  carried  down  on  lighters  to  the  Castle ;  and  the  garrison  soon 
showed  that  they  intended  to  be  recognized  in  the  harbor,  by  firing  on  the 
ship  St.  Pat?'ick,  and  forcing  her  to  strike  her  colors.  A  gentle  hint  was 
not  always  enough,  for  about  this  time  the  pinnace  of  one  Anderson  stood 
out  three  shots  before  she  would  heave  to.  The  English  sea-captains  found 
it  hard  to  comply  with  the  etiquette  of  this  mud  fort,  which  demanded  as 
much  respectful  notice  as  if  it  had  been  South-Sea  Castle  or  the  Tower  of 
London.  In  1637  three  ships  from  Ipswich,  England,  sailed  up  the  harbor, 
bearing  360  passengers.  One  of  them  refused  to  anchor  in  front  of  the 
Castle,  and  the  vigilant  gunner  tried  to  fire  a  shot  across  her  bows.  The 
cannon  was  badly  aimed,  for  the  ball  struck  the  vessel,  and  killed  a  passen- 
ger in  the  shrouds.  The  governor  and  his  inquest  decided  that  this  un- 
happy immigrant  "  came  to  his  death  by  the  Providence  of  God,"  —  a  verdict 
which  must  have  excited  great  admiration  among  the  coloaial  Dogberries. 

It  was  rather  bold  and  deadly  work  for  obscure  transatlantic  artil- 
lerists to  be  doing.  At  any  rate,  the  General  Court  thought  it  hardly  worth 
while  to  spend  money  in  keeping  this  hornets'  nest  in  repair;  and  so  it  was 
abandoned  the  next  year.  Several  citizens,  however,  kept  the  works  in 
order  voluntarily,  aided  by  small  grants,  until  1643,  when  the  ordnance  and 
ammunition  were  removed  to  Cambridge,  Charlestown,  and  Ipswich,  and 
the  island  passed  into  Capt.  Gibbons's  hands,  by  lease.  When  La  Tour's 
French  frigate,  the  Clement,  sailed  up  the  harbor  a  few  weeks  later,  and 
fired  a  salute,  there  was  no  one  at  the  Castle  to  answer  it;  and  no  one  to 
oppose  her,  had  the  intent  been  hostile.  This  evident  danger  aroused  the 
citizens,  and  in   1644  delegates  from  Boston  and  the  five  adjacent  towns 


ICING'S  HANDBOOK-   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  1 33 

petitioned  the  General  Court  to  restore  the  Castle  and  garrison.  Their 
prayer  was  refused  (even  then  the  country  members  voted  on  principle 
against  Boston  measures);  and  with  great  difficulty  the  six  towns  got  per- 
mission to  build  a  fort  here  at  their  own  expense,  on  condition,  furthermore, 
that  the  work  so  built  should  belong  (not  to  the  contributing  towns,  but)  to 
the  Colony. 

A  singular  report  was  carried  abroad  to  England  before  1650,  and 
printed  there,  that  "  eighteen  Turkish  men-of-war  had  attacked  and  burned 
Charlestown,  killing  40  of  its  citizens,  and  holding  the  remainder  for  ran- 
som." Those  were  the  days  when  the  Moslem  corsairs  swept  the  seas ; 
and  in  many  a  smoky  English  forecastle  the  sailors  drearily  sang  the  ballad 
which  begins,  — 

"  Oh,  I  have  got  a  ship  in  the  north  country, 
She  goes  by  the  name  of  the  Bold  Galatee  ; 
But  I  am  afraid  she  will  be  taken  by  that  Turkish  galley 

As  she  sails  along  the  Lowlands, 

Lowlands  low ; 

As  she  sails  along  the  Lowlands  low." 

Boston  was  not  to  be  surprised  by  such  a  phenomenal  attack  of  the 
gallant  Asiatics,  or  even  by  the  nearer  French  or  Dutch  naval  guerillas. 
In  order  that  the  Allah  il  Allah  or  the  Angelus  should  not  sound  from  the 
site  of  the  godly  First  Church,  the  castle  was  restored,  and  well  garnished 
with  black  British  guns.  The  new  commander  was  Lieut.  Davenport ;  and 
his  instructions  bore  warrant  to  examine  all  vessels  coming  in  ;  to  allow  trad- 
ing-ships to  enter  and  depart  freely ;  and  to  send  half  his  garrison  (of  twenty 
men)  to  town  each  Sunday,  to  attend  divine  worship.  He  was  ordered,  "the 
Lord  having  furnished  him  with  able  gifts,"  to  take  care  of  the  garrison  as 
his  own  family";  and  had  a  third  of  the  island  for  himself,  and  a  tenth  for 
the  gunner.  The  town  tried  to  induce  ten  families  to  settle  on  the  island, 
in  the  hope  of  thus  having  a  permanent  and  resident  group  of  militiamen 
under  the  walls  of  the  defences. 

During  the  civil  war  in  England  a  ship  arrived  at  Boston  from  one  of 
the  Royalist  ports,  and  was  straightway  attacked  and  captured  by  a  parlia- 
mentary vessel  from  London.  The  Castle  opened  fire  on  the  latter,  for  an 
infraction  of  the  peace ;  and  the  Londoner's  guns  returned  the  cannonade. 
Finally,  however,  she  yielded ;  and  the  unfortunate  Royalist  ship,  wrested 
from  her  possession,  was  made  a  prize  by  the  Massachusetts  authorities. 
The  commander  of  the  fort  was  ordered  "  not  to  permit  any  more  ships  to 
fight  in  the  harbor,  without  Licence  from  Authority."  The  delicious  quaint- 
ness  of  this  colonial  edict  must  have  profoundly  affected  the  belligerent 
naval  parties,  for  we  hear  of  no  further  engagements  about  Boston  during 


134  KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  civil  war.  Perhaps,  however,  the  sea-dogs  of  king  or  parliament  could 
not  afford  to  get  the  necessary  license.  Without  this,  they  must  keep  as 
quiet  as  fishing-boats;  for,  in  1645,  the  Legislature  ordered  the  "cheife 
millitary  officer  of  the  trayne  band  of  the  towne  of  Boston  "  to  arm  and 
garrison  his  batteries,  and  "  If  any  shipps  wthin  yor  harbor  shall  quarrell,  & 
shoote  one  at  another,  whereby  the  people  or  howses  may  be  endangered, 
you  shall  use  your  endevor  and  Power  to  stay  and  suppresse  such  attempts, 
&  to  bring  such  shipp  or  shipps  under  comand."  At  the  same  time,  the 
Legislature  ''  not  taking  it  well,  yt  ye  Castle  is  &  hath  binn  so  long  neglected 
by  ye  sevll  tounes  yt  undertooke  the  finishing  thereof,"  ordered  Boston  to 
complete  the  Castle  gates  within  a  fortnight,  on  penalty  of  a  heavy  fine. 
^150  were  appropriated  for  the  works,  and  ^280  for  yearly  pay  for  the 
garrison,  which  consisted  of  a  captain  and  ten  men  in  winter,  and  ten  addi- 
tional soldiers  during  the  rest  of  the  year.  Three  years  later  this  force 
suffered  a  reduction  ;  and  it  was  appointed  that  "  uppon  an  alarum  given  by 
the  Castle,  viz.,  by  shootinge  off  two  great  guns,  &  fireing  of  a  beacon,  and 
hoysting  &  lowering  the  flag,  or  anny  two  of  the  sd  signes,"  a  re-enforcement 
of  forty  men  should  instantly  be  sent  down  from  Boston. 

In  1651  the  Legislature  passed  this  order:  "Forasmuch  as  this  Courte 
conceives  the  old  English  colours  now  used  by  the  Parliament  of  England 
to  be  a  necessary  badge  .of  distinction  betwext  the  English  &  other  nations 
in  all  places  of  the  world,  till  the  state  of  England  shall  alter  the  same, 
which  we  much  desire,  we  being  of  the  same  nation,  hath  therfore  ordered, 
that  the  capt.  of  the  Castle  shall  presently  advaunce  the  afforesaid  colours 
of  England  uppon  the  Castle  uppon  all  necessary  occasions."  Davenport, 
the  cross-hater,  was  sorely  galled  at  this  order,  but  perforce  obeyed  it.  He 
was  a  grim  old  Puritan,  who  came  across  the  sea  two  years  before  Win- 
throp's  colony;  and  had  been  so  delighted  with  Endicott's  act  in  cutting 
out  the  cross  of  St.  George  from  the  English  flag,  that'  he  named  his 
daughter  Truecross.  His  equipment  now  included  two  boats,  a  drum,  six 
murtherers,  and  two  muskets  and  pikes  for  each  soldier.  The  works  were 
thus  described  by  a  contemporary:  "There  was  a  small  Castle  built  with 
brick  walls,  and  had  three  rooms  in  it;  a  dwelling  Room  below,  a  lodging 
Room  over  it.  the  Gun  room  over  that,  wherein  stood  six  very  good  Saker 
Guns,  and  over  it  upon  the  Top  Three  lesser  Guns."  And  in  1654  it  was 
written  in  The  Wonder- Working  Providence,  that  "The  Castle  is  built  on 
the  North-East  of  the  Island,  upon  a  rising  hill,  very  advantageous  to  make 
many  shots  at  such  ships  as  shall  offer  to  enter  the  Harbor  without  their 
good  leave  and  liking,  the  Commander  of  it  is  one  Captain  Davenport,  a 
man  approved  for  his  faithfulness,  courage,  and  skill,  the  Master  Cannoneer 
is  an  active  Ingineer;  also  this  Castle  hath  cost  about  ,£4,000,  yet  are  not 
this  poor  pilgrim  people  weary  of  maintaining  it  in  good  repair,  it  is  of  very 


h'IArG\S  HANDBOOK   ()/■    HOS'J'ON  //A  ABO  A'. 


*35 


good  use  to  awe  any  insolent  persons  that  putting  confidence  in  their  ship 
and  sails,  shall  offer  any  injury  to  the  people,  or  contemn  the  Government, 
they  have  certain  signals  of  alarums,  which  suddenly  spread  through  the 
whole  country.  Thus  are  these  people  with  great  diligence  provided  for 
these  daies  of  war,  hoping  the  day  is  at  hand  wherein  the  Lord  will  give 


Casemate   Battery  and  Southern   Face,    Fort   Independence. 


Antichrist  the  double  of  all  her  doings,  and  therefore  they  have  nursed  up 
in  their  Artillery  garden  some  who  have  since  been  used,  as  instruments 
to  begin  the  work." 

Soon  afterward  Boston  sent  a  great  bell  down  to  the  Castle,  probably 
for  use  in  alarming  the  bay-villages.  It  was  one  of  the  bells  which  a  Yan- 
kee sea-rover  captured  on  a  ship  bound  for  New  France  or  New  Spain,  and 


136  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

had  been  destined  for  the  tower  of  a  Roman-Catholic  church.  It  appears 
that  some  reminiscence  of  the  Inquisition  must  have  come  with  this  melo- 
dious gift ;  and  so,  about  this  time,  we  find  tokens  that  the  little  colonial 
Gibraltar  began  to  be  used  for  sinister  purposes.  In  1661  the  General 
Court  ordered  "  Nicholas  Upshall  to  be  imprisoned  at  Castle  I  for  drawing 
Quakers  here.  None  to  speak  to  or  see  him  but  his  own  family."  Probably 
other  heretics  against  the  State  religion  were  interned  in  the  little  block- 
houses on  the  island,  and  held  on  the  rack  of  the  east  winds. 

In  1665  a  flash  of  lightning  killed  Capt.  Davenport,  as  he  lay  on  his  bed, 
alongside  the  powder-magazine.  Another  grim  Roundhead  soldier,  Capt. 
Roger  Clap,  was  put  in  command  of  the  Castle,  and  held  it  for  21  years, 
resigning  then,  rather  than  carry  out  an  odious  order  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros. 
He  would  have  none  but  pious  men  in  his  garrison ;  and  "  in  his  time  it 
might  be  seen  that  Religious  and  well  disposed  men  might  take  upon  them 
the  calling  of  a  souldier,  without  danger  of  hurting  their  morals  or  their 
good  name."  The  garrison  now  consisted  of  several  officers,  with  20  soldiers 
from  Boston,  12  each  from  Charlestown  and  Dorchester,  and  10  from  Rox- 
bury.  Clap  demanded  that  the  port-holes  should  be  repaired ;  and  that  the 
platform  should  have  additional  supports,  since  it  sustained  six  guns,  each 
of  3,000  pounds  weight,  and  also,  on  training-days,  crowds  of  people.  He 
also  complained  that  he  had  endeavored  to  stop  the  leaks  into  the  rooms, 
but  in  a  short  time  they  would  again  be  in  the  same  condition  as  before ; 
that  in  the  frequent  hard  rains  he  and  his  wife  had  been  driven  from  their 
beds  because  they  were  so  wet  with  rain,  and  had  to  leave  their  small  house 
for  the  Castle  for  shelter  in  dark  stormy  nights,  and  "  sometimes  in  snow 
above  my  wife's  knees."  She  certainly  expressed  a  reasonable  desire  that 
she  might  live  in  such  quarters,  "  that  in  the  cold  winter  she  may  not  go  so 
far  out  of  dores  to  bed,  if  the  Court  will  be  pleased  to  show  us  the  favor." 
Edward  Everett  says  that  "  When  the  great  Dutch  admiral  De  Ruyter,  the 
year  [1665]  after  that  famous  Annus  Mwabilis,  immortalized  by  Dryden, 
having  swept  the  coast  of  Africa,  had  been  ordered  to  the  West  Indies, 
'intending,'  says  Capt.  Clap,  not  a  whit  daunted  at  the  thought,  'to  visit  us,' 
the  Captain  adds,  with  honest  exultation,  '  Our  battery  was  also  repaired, 
wherein  are  seven  good  guns.' " 

In  1673,  'b  having  considered  the  awful  hand  of  God  in  the  destruction 
of  the  Castle  by  fier,"  the  General  Court  ordered  it  rebuilt;  and  the  next 
year  came  one  of  the  earliest  official  junketings  in  Boston  Harbor,  when 
"  Itt  is  ordered,  that  the  whole  Court  on  the  morrow  morning  goe  to  the 
Castle  to  view  it,  as  it  is  now  finisht,  &  see  how  the  countrys  money  is  layde 
out  thereupon,  &  that  on  the  countrys  charge;  which  was  donn."  They  had 
been  aided  in  the  expense  of  construction  by  a  singular  dispensation  of 
judicial    Providence.      It   seems   that    Governor    Bellingham,  a   victim   of 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  I  37 

occasional  mental  derangement,  died  in  1672,  leaving  a  large  property  for 
charitable  purposes.  But  his  will  was  somewhat  incoherent;  and  therefore, 
after  heated  discussions,  the  General  Court  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  devot- 
ing the  entire  estate  to  rebuilding  the  Castle-Island  fort.  To  increase  this 
fund,  and  maintain  repairs,  every  vessel  above  the  size  of  twelve  tons  was 
obliged  to  pay  a  shilling  a  ton  for  each  voyage  to  Boston,  to  be  applied  to 
the  fortifications.  ^160  a  year  had  been  granted  for  the  Castle,  with  which 
the  captain  must  pay  himself,  the  gunner,  and  the  three  soldiers  of  the  gar- 
rison;  but  the  contributing  towns  paid  chiefly  in  shoes  and  corn;  and  Clap 
gloomily  wrote  that  "  had  not  your  petitioner  through  God's  goodness  some 
estate  of  his  own,  he  might  sometime  be  put  into  straits,  and  so  he  is  also 
like  to  be  to  get  wood  to  burn  on  this  cold  island,  and  other  things  he  wants 
which  cost  him  a  great  deal  of  money  in  a  year." 

In  1676  Edward  Randolph  thus  described  the  fort:  "Three  miles  from 
Boston,  upon  a  small  island,  there  is  a  castle  of  stone  lately  built,  and  in 
good  repair,  with  four  bastions,  and  mounted  with  38  guns,  16  whole  cul- 
verins,  commodiously  seated  upon  a  rising  ground  sixty  paces  from  the 
waterside,  under  which  at  high-water  mark  is  a  small  stone  battery  of  six 
guns.  The  present  commander  is  one  Captain  Clap,  an  old  man ;  his  salary 
^50  per  annum.  There  belong  to  it  six  gunners,  each  £\o  per  annum." 
Clap  went  off  duty  in  1686,  and  was  succeeded  rapidly  by  Winthrop,  Sav- 
age, Pipon,  and  Fairweather.  In  the  same  year  the  gunner,  Supply  Clap, 
was  killed,  on  the  island,  and  buried  to  the  mournful  sound  of  minute-guns. 

In  Drake's  "Captain  Nelson,"  we  read  that  "The  Castle,  as  it  was  then 
and  still  is  called,  was  a  regular  and  well-built  work  of  stone,  with  bastions 
at  each  of  its  four  angles,  and  a  formidable  array  of  cannon  on  its  walls. 
All  vessels  were  required  to  lower  their  colors  in  passing ;  and  such  as  were 
outward  bound  to  exhibit  a  pass,  signed  by  the  governor,  before  they  could 
proceed  to  sea.  As  the  captain  of  the  Castle  was  expected  to  enforce  exact 
obedience  to  these  regulations,  the  approach  to  Stamboul  was  not  more 
strictly  guarded."  This  is  not  the  only  mention  of  Castle  Island  in  the  pages 
of  romance ;  for  when  Lydia  Maria  Child  wrote  "  The  Rebels,"  full  sixty 
years  ago,  she  located  here  one  of  its  most  exciting  scenes,  the  burial  of 
the  treasure-chest,  an  episode  quite  in  the  vein  of  "  The  Mysteries  of 
Udolpho." 

To  return  to  the  quaint  old-time  records  :  In  January,  1686,  according  to 
Sewall's  diary,  it  was  "extream  cold,  so  that  the  Harbour  frozen  up,  and  to 
the  Castle.  This  day  so  cold  that  the  Sacramental  Bread  is  frozen  pretty 
hard,  and  rattles  sadly  as  broken  into  the  Plates."  Later  in  the  year  Presi- 
dent Dudley  was  received  with  a  salute  of  25  guns,  as  he  sailed  by  in  a 
royal  frigate.  After  1691  the  lieutenant-governors  became  ex-officio  com- 
manders of  the  Castle,  which  was  for  a  few  years  known  as   Fort  William 


I38  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

and  Mary.  As  soon  as  the  Boston  people  heard  of  the  landing  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange  in  England,  in  1689,  and  his  marching  against  the  tyran- 
nical and  papistical  King  James,  they  rose  in  arms  against  Sir  Edmund 
Andros,  James's  representative,  and  seized  his  forts  at  Boston.  5,000  armed 
New-Englanders  paraded  in  the  town,  and  soon  captured  the  Castle  and  its 
garrison  of  regulars,  and  also  the  royal  frigate  Rose  in  the  harbor.  An- 
dros was  imprisoned  at  the  Castle,  with  the  chief  officers  of  his  government ; 
one  of  whom,  Commissioner  Palmer,  wrote  here,  while  the  pleasant  spring 
days  enlivened  the  harbor,  his  famous  "  Impartial  Account  of  the  State  of 
New  England."  Andros  did  not  take  his  captivity  kindly,  but  often  tried  to 
escape.  Disguised  as  a  woman,  he  passed  two  lines  of  sentinels ;  but  the 
outer  guard  recognized  military  boots  under  his  skirts,  and  haled  him  back. 
Again,  his  servant  made  the  sentry  very  drunk ;  and  Sir  Edmund  left  the 
Castle,  and  got  as  far  as  Rhode  Island,  whence  he  was  returned  to  captivity 
once  more.  For  eight  months  the  noble  baronet  languished  on  the  island, 
under  Puritan  guards,  regretfully  remembering  the  days  when  he  was  one  of 
the  freest  and  merriest  officers  of  Prince  Rupert's  bold  dragoons.  Years 
later  he  became  governor  of  Virginia,  where  the  cavaliers  endured  his 
sabre-knot  ?-egime  for  many  years ;  and  he  founded  William  and  Mary 
College  for  their  elevation. 

After  the  unhappy  knights  and  gentlemen  of  England  had  been  set  free, 
quiet  reigned  in  the  little  fort  for  some  years.  But  in  1696  the  apprehen- 
sions of  a  French  naval  attack  caused  the  committee  on  defences  to  order 
new  batteries  and  bastions  at  Castle  Island;  and  they  had  a  number  of 
ships  moored  in  the  harbor,  "  in  line  of  battle,  to  annoy  the  king's  enemies 
in  case  of  an  attack."  Finally,  in  1701,  all  the  old  Colonial  works  on  Castle 
Island  were  removed,  and  a  scientific  fortification  of  brick  was  commenced. 
The  slab  over  the  portal  bore  the  following  inscription  (in  Latin) :  "  In  the 
thirteenth  year  of  William  III.,  most  invincible  king  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Ireland,  this  fortification  (called  Castle  William — Wilhelmi 
Castellum  —  from  his  name)  was  undertaken;  and  was  finished  in  the 
second  year  of  the  reign  of  the  most  serene  Anne,  Queen  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Ireland,  and  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  1703.  Built  by  the 
Tribune  William  Wolfgang  Romer,  chief  military  engineer  to  their  Royal 
Majesties  in  North  America."  Boston  committees  supervised  the  new 
constructions,  and  with  difficulty  kept  peace  between  Romer  and  the  colonial 
officers.  Even  Sewall  himself  was  obliged  to  go  down  to  the  island,  and 
tell  "  the  young  men  that  if  any  intemperate  language  proceeded  from  Col. 
Romer,  t'was  not  intended  to  countenance  that,  or  encourage  their  imita- 
tion;  but  observe  his  direction  in  things  wherein  he  was  skilful  and  ordered 
to  govern  the  work."  A  considerable  part  of  the  cost  of  the  Castle  was 
borne  by  the  British   Government,  whose  officers  had  therefore  a  right  to 


■     KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  1 39 

name  the  new  outworks,  the  Crown,  Rose,  Royal,  and  Elizabeth  Bastions. 
Some  part  of  the  wall  of  Romer's  fort  still  remains,  hidden  under  the 
granite  ashlar  of  the  present  works.  New  troubles  soon  arose;  for  Sewall 
reports,  in  August,  1703:  "It  is  said  the  Colors  must  be  spread  at  the 
Castle  every  Lord's  Day  in  honor  of  it.  Yesterday  was  first  practised.  If 
a  ship  come  in  on  the  Lord's  Day,  Colors  must  be  taken  down.  I  am 
afraid  the  Lord's  Day  will  fare  none  the  better  for  this  new  pretended 
honor."  And  a  year  later  he  added :  "1704.  Lord's  day,  April  23.  There 
is  great  firing  at  the  town,  ships,  Castle,  upon  account  of  it  being  the 
Coronation  day,  which  gives  offence  to  many.  Down  Sabbath,  up  St. 
George!"  In  1709,  when  a  delegation  of  Mohawk  Indians  came  to  Bos- 
ton, on  their  way  to  England,  they  were  shown  over  the  Castle,  with  high 
military  ceremony.  At  this  time,  and  for  many  years,  Capt.  John  Larrabee 
was  in  charge  of  the  works.  In  171 1  the  alarm  was  sounded  from  the 
Castle,  and  re-echoed  by  drums  beating  to  arms  in  Boston  streets.  But 
the  incoming  fleet  was  friendly,  and  the  batteries  soon  saluted  the  fifteen 
great  frigates  and  five  veteran  regiments  (of  Marlborough's  army)  which 
Lord  Bolingbroke  had  sent  from  England  to  conquer  Canada.  In  1725 
another  and  larger  party  of  Indians  were  sent  here  as  captives;  but  they 
very  ingeniously  evaded  the  sentinels,  and  escaped  from  the  island.  A  few 
years  later  the  annual  trainings  were  held  on  the  island ;  and  the  brave 
militiamen  received  copious  refreshments  of  biscuits,  cheese,  and  punch. 
In  1740  the  ice  in  the  inner  harbor  was  unbroken  for  weeks,  and  many 
people  drove  down  to  the  island  over  the  firm  and  level  surface  of  ice. 

When  Gov.  -Burnett  came  to  assume  his  jurisdiction  over  Massachu- 
setts, in  1728,  the  Castle  gave  him  a  resounding  salute  ;  and  Mather  Byles 
(perhaps  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  new  executive  was  the  son  of  the 
famous  Bishop  of  Salisbury)  wrote  a  stately  poem,  in  which  we  find  the 
following  Cowperian  lines  :  — 

"  And  thou,  0  Boston,  Mistress  of  the  Towns, 
Whom  the  pleas'd  Bay,  with  am'rous  arms,  surrounds, 
Let  thy  warm  transports  blaze  in  num'rous  fires, 
And  beaming  Glories  glitter  on  thy  Spires.'' 

Boston  watched  her  little  fortress  with  tender  care,  and  the  subject  came 
up  in  almost  every  town-meeting.  In  1735  the  report  went  out  that  the 
mortar  had  deteriorated  so  much  that  the  walls  were  crumbling ;  and  the 
engineers  erected  a  new  battery  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  island.  Five 
years  later  the  guns  were  carefully  re-mounted.  In  1744  the  town  rejoiced 
at  the  arrival  of  twenty  42-pounders  and  two  mortars,  sent  from  England 
for  the  Castle.  These  guns  were  taken  out  on  the  Provincial  fleet  the  next 
year,  and  did  grand  service  in  the  bombardment  of  the  French  fortress  of 


14O  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

Louisburg.  There  they  were  managed  by  Gridley,  who  had  been  one  of 
the  chief  engineers  of  the  Castle,  and  hammered  down  the  Grand  Battery 
and  the  King's  Bastion,  and  poured  their  heavy  missiles  into  the  heart 
of  the  great  Catholic  fortress.  A  year  later  the  island  batteries  saluted 
the  entering  ships  of  Sir  William  Pepperell  and  Admiral  Warren,  returning 
victorious  from  the  siege  of  "  the  Dunkirk  of  America,  whose  sombre 
towers  rose  like  giants  over  the  northern  seas."  Another  year  passed ;  and 
hundreds  of  citizens  were  seen  upon  the  island,  repairing  and  building 
fortifications,  while  6,400  rural  militia  crowded  the  streets  and  Common  of 
Boston.  A  grand  armada  of  16  ships-of-the-line  and  95  frigates,  with  an 
army  on  board,  had  been  sent  by  France  to  destroy  the  spoilers  of  Louis- 

bourg. 

"For  this  Admiral  d'Anville 

Had  sworn  by  cross  and  crown 
To  ravage  with  fire  and  steel 
Our  helpless  Boston  town." 

Longfellow  tells,  in  his  "  Ballad  of  the  French  Fleet,"  how  their  plans 
came  to  nought.  But,  had  they  escaped  the  perils  of  the  sea,  what  could 
our  little  Yankee  forts  have  done  against  so  vast  an  embattled  host  ?  Yet 
in  1750  Capt.  Peter  Goelet,  of  New  York,  reported  that  "The  Harbour  is 
defended  by  a  Strong  Castle  of  a  Hundred  Guns,  Built  upon  An  Island 
where  the  Shipping  must  pass  by  and  within  hale.  Its  Situation  is  Ex- 
traordenary  as  it  Commands  on  Every  Side  and  is  Well  Built  and  kept  in 
Exceeding  Good  Order." 

John  Phillips,  whose  father,  grandfather,  and  great-agjandfather  were 
New-England  divines,  held  the  position  of  chaplain  of  the  Castle  from  1746 
to  1759.  Sir  William  Pepperell  and  Gov.  Pownall  had  the  keys  of  com- 
mand during  a  part  of  that  time ;  and  Chaplain  Phillips  was  made  resident 
commander  from  1759  to  l77°i  being  the  last  Massachusetts  Provincial 
officer  in  charge  of  the  island.  The  defences  were  composed  of  a  star- 
fort  on  the  high  ground,  a  long  water-battery  near  the  channel,  and  two 
block-houses  at  the  ends  of  the  island.  Some  of  the  best  American  artil- 
lerists in  the  Revolution  received  their  first  lessons  here.  The  Massachu- 
setts soldiers  in  garrison  generally  numbered  about  fifty  men,  and  were 
quartered  in  the  citadel ;  while  in  the  spacious  barracks  outside,  the  veterans 
of  Shirley  and  Pepperell  were  kept  in  1753,  the  Royal  Americans  in  1758, 
Irving's  Provincials  in  1765,  and  several  companies  of  Royal  Artillery  in 
1766-67.  When  Gov.  Pownall  arrived  at  the  seat  of  his  government,  the 
conqueror  of  Louisburg,  who  was  also  the  senior  councillor,  held  the  com- 
mand of  Castle  William.  Sir  William  Pepperell,  in  presenting  to  the  gov- 
ernor the  kev  of  this  fortress,  observed  that  the  Castle  was  the  key  of  the 
Province.     His  Excellency  replied,  "  Sir,  the  interest  of  the  Province  is  in 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  141 

your  heart :  1  shall,  therefore,  always  be  glad  to  see  the  key  of  it  in  your 
hands." 

In  1 761  the  remnants  of  the  Acadian  people  were  shipped  to  Massachu- 
setts, to  be  scattered  among  the  Bay  towns.  But  the  vessels  were  brought 
to  off  Castle  William,  and  held  there,  under  its  batteries,  while  the  General 
Court  debated  as  to  what  to  do  with  these  mournful  exiles.  At  last  it  was 
resolved  that  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  land,  and  the  transports  were 
sent  to  sea  again. 

Between  1760  and  1770  there  were  two  imposing  funerals  here,  when  Sir 
Thomas  Adams,  commander  of  the  Boston  frigate,  and  the  daughter  of 
Governor  Sir  Francis  Bernard,  were  buried.  When  Fort  Independence  was 
built,  the  workmen  discovered  their  corpses,  enclosed  in  elaborate  coffins, 
under  arches  of  masonry.  They  were  carried  to  the  south  point,  and 
re-buried;  but,  as  no  one  then  knew  of  their  history,  they  were  placed 
among  the  graves  of  the  common  soldiers,  and  all  'trace  of  the  spot  has 
been  lost. 

In  1764  the  barracks  of  Castle  William,  then  accommodating  480  men, 
were  opened  for  inoculated  patients,  during  the  raging  of  the  small-pox. 
3,000  persons  were  inoculated,  and  several  doctors  were  in  residence  at  the 
castle.  Four  years  later  the  Royal  commissioners  fled  from  angry  Boston, 
and  took  refuge  here.  Near  the  West  Head,  at  this  time,  stood  a  block- 
house, wherein  the  officers  dwelt ;  while  the  older  block-house,  where  many 
of  the  soldiers  were  quartered,  was  on  the  most  southerly  point.  Shirley's 
battery  was  a  strong  detached  work  on  East  Head,  commanding  Shirley  Gut. 
For  six  years  the  4>ost  was  held  by  British  garrisons.  At  the  time  of  the 
Tea-Party  the  eannoh  were  kept  loaded ;  and  Copley,  the  celebrated  artist, 
visited  the  island  in  unsuccessful  endeavor  to  mediate  between  the  towns- 
people and  the  Royal  officials.  In  September,  1770,  a  Royal  order  reached 
Gov.  Hutchinson,  in  virtue  of  which  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  the  castle 
to  Col.  Dalrymple,  who  was  stationed  at  Boston  with  the  Fourteenth  and 
Twenty-ninth  Regiments. 

After  the  Boston  Massacre  the  citizens  demanded  that  the  Royal  troops 
be  taken  out  of  the  town,  and  they  were  accordingly  quartered  at  the  Castle. 
The  soldiers  found  consolation  in  singing  the  following,  and  other  verses  of 

animosity :  — 

"Our  fleet  and  our  army,  they  soon  will  arrive; 
Then  to  a  bleak  island  you  shall  not  us  drive. 
In  every  house  you  shall  have  three  or  four, 
And,  if  that  will  not  please  you,  you  shall  have  half  a  score. 
Derry  down,  down,  hey  derry  down." 

Soon  afterwards  the  Twenty-ninth  went  to  New  Jersey,  and  the  Four- 
teenth sailed  to  the  West  Indies.     A  few  years  later,  when  the   Fourth, 


142  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

Fifth,  Thirty-eighth,  and  Forty-third  British  Regiments  lay  on  Boston 
Common,  and  the  Welsh  Fusileers  held  Fort  Hill,  the  Castle  was  garri- 
-  soned  by  Col.  Leslie's  Sixty-fourth  Regiment,  and  contained  nearly  all  the 
Royal  stores  and  powder  from  New  York.  The  troops  that  raided  on  Salem 
were  embarked  here ;  and  frequent  scouting-parties  landed  at  City  Point, 
destroying  the  buildings  on  the  peninsula,  and  carrying  off  detached  Ameri- 
//can  pickets.  In  March,  1776,  the  Castle  batteries  were  trained  on  the  adja- 
cent heights  of  South  Boston,  and  poured  a  hot  fire  upon  the  new  American 
forts  there.  But  the  Continental  troops,  sheltered  by  Gridley's  admirable 
intrenchments,  replied  fearlessly ;  devoting  most  of  their  shot,  however,  to 
the  British  lines  nearer  the  town.  These  were  the  liveliest  days  the  island 
ever  saw ;  and  its  guns,  directed  against  the  people  whom  they  were  meant 
to  protect,  roared  hotly  over  the  rebel  bay.  When  the  town  was  evacuated, 
the  garrison  burned  the  barracks,  blew  up  the  magazine,  and  otherwise 
devastated  the  island.  Washington  sent  Col.  John  Trumbull  down,  as  soon 
as  possible,  to  take  possession  of  the  burning  Castle,  and  save  what  he 
could  from  the  general  wreck.  (Trumbull  was  then  fresh  from  Harvard 
College,  and  in  later  years  he  perpetuated  his  memories  of  the  Revolution 
in  the  huge  paintings  now  in  the  Rotunda  at  Washington.)  The  Conti- 
nental troops  restored  the  works  almost  immediately,  under  the  command  of 
Lieut.-Col.  Paul  Revere ;  and  when  the  French  frigate  Hermione,  36,  sailed 
up  the  harbor  in  1779,  bearing  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  Castle  William 
gave  her  a  good  republican  salute.  In  1778  Gridley  renewed  the  works, 
under  the  direction  of  Congress ;  he  being  then  chief  engineer  of  the  Conti- 
nental army.  The  rubbish  was  removed,  as  far  as  possible ;  and  an  epaule- 
ment  arose  on  the  site  of  the  Shirley  bastion,  armed  with  disabled  guns 
left  here,  to  which  new  trunnions  had  been  added.  When  the  British  frig- 
ate Somerset  was  wrecked  on  Cape  Cod,  in  1778,  her  armament  of  21  hand- 
some 32-pounders  was  saved,  and  mounted  on  the  Castle.  The  garrison 
during  much  of  the  Revolution  consisted  of  an  invalid  corps,  and  the  bar- 
racks were  used  as  a  station  for  recruits.  When  Washington  visited  Bos- 
ton in  1789,  the  batteries  here  made  grand  salutes.  A  contemporary  picture 
shows  the  island  as  a  high  embrasured  bluff,  with  several  plain  buildings 
on  and  about  it,  a  pier  running  out  toward  the  channel,  and  a  preternatu- 
rally  long  flag.  At  this  time  there  were  150  cannon  on  the  island,  most  of 
which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  British  when  they  fled  from  Boston. 
The  first  salute  fired  here  by  a  British  frigate  in  honor  of  the  American  flag 
was  in  1791,  when  H.B.M.S.  A lligator  sailed  up  the  harbor,  and  discharged 
thirteen  guns  when  passing  the  Castle,  which  were  returned  by  the  artil- 
lerists on  the  island.  The  commander  of  the  Alligator  was  Sir  Isaac 
Coffin,  a  native  of  Boston,  who  afterwards  became  a  famous  British  admiral. 
In  1799  the  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt  reported  that  he  had  been 


AVArG'S  HANDBOOK'  OF  BOSTON  I/ARBOR. 


143 


informed  by  Gen.  Knox,  late  Secretary  of  War,  that  Congress  had  appro- 
priated #100,000  to  fortify  these  islands,  but  that  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts had  forbidden  the  prosecution  of  the  work.  From  1785  until  1805 
the  criminals  of  the  State  were  confined  on  the  island.  Among  these  was 
Stephen  Burroughs,  one. of  the  quaintest  of  rascals;  none  of  the  county  jails 
being  thought  strong  enough  to  hold  him.  There  were  at  first  16  prisoners 
here,  many  of  them  hardened  and  desperate  criminals.  Burroughs  quickly 
effected  his  escape,  with  seven  companions,  by  digging  through  the  wall 
of  the  casemate,  and  carrying  off  the  Castle  boat  and  the  sentry  who 
should  have  guarded  it.  They  were  all  re-captured  on  shore,  and  received 
100  lashes  each.  At  a  later  day,  when  there  were  45  prisoners  in  the 
bombproof,  he  formed  a  plan  to  overpower  the  garrison,  overawe  the  town 


» 


Castle  William 


Last  Century: 


with  the  artillery  of  the  fort,  capture  and  heavily  arm  the  best  vessel  in 
the  harbor,  and  sail  away  to  some  foreign  land,  after  blowing  up  the  Castle. 
Burroughs  attacked  and  dispersed  the  main  guard  single-handed ;  but  his 
fellow-convicts  feared  to  follow  him,  and  the  brave  fellow  was  stricken  down, 
ironed,  and  lashed.     He  remained  in  duress  until  the  year  1788. 

From  1 799-1801  the  Castle  was  used  as  a  place  of  captivity  for  soldiers' 
and  sailors  of  France,  with  which  power  we  were  then  at  war.  Sometimes 
there  were  as  many  as  250  of  these  merry  fellows  here  at  once,  especially 
after  the  capture  of  the  war- vessel  Berceauj  but  the  garrison  found  no  such 
difficulty  with  them  as  with  the  truculent  criminals  of  Massachusetts. 

In  1798  Massachusetts  ceded  Castle  Island  to  the  United  States;  and 
when  President  John  Adams  visited  the  island,  a  year  later,  the  little  fortress 


144  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

was  christened  Fort  Independence.  Four  years  afterwards  a  new  barbette 
fort  was  finished  here,  with  bastions  named  Winthrop,  Shirley,  Hancock, 
Adams,  and  Dearborn ;  the  constructing  engineer  having  been  Lieut.-Col. 
Tousard,  2d  Artillery,  who  was  succeeded  by  Col.  Foncin,  formerly  gov- 
ernor of  the  French  colony  of  Cayenne.  Ten  years  later  Gen.  Dearborn 
put  the  island  in  posture  of  defence,  under  apprehension  of  a  British  naval 
attack,  and  fully  garrisoned  the  fort  and  outworks. 

During  the  War  of  1812  Fort  Independence  was  occupied  by  details  of 
Massachusetts  militia,  largely  from  Dorchester  and  adjacent  towns,  whose 
discipline  was  rapidly  perfected  amid  these  grim  and  warlike  environments. 
The  commanders  of  the  post  between  1808  and  1828  were  Gen.  Moses  Por- 
ter, a  veteran  of  Bunker  Hill  and  of  Washington's  campaigns ;  Gen.  John  P. 
Boyd,  who  had  commanded  10,000  Indian  cavalry  at  Madras,  and  led  a  bri- 
gade at  Tippecanoe  and  in  the  war  in  Upper  Canada ;  Gen.  James  Miller, 
who  fought  so  gallantly  at  Lundy's  Lane ;  William  Gates,  who  afterwards 
captured  Osceola,  and  led  the  Cherokees  from  Georgia  to  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory; Col.  Isaac  Lane,  a  veteran  of  many  battles;  Col.  Nathan  Towson,  the 
famous  artillerist  who  defended  Fort  George  and  Fort  Erie  so  well;  Col. 
Abraham  Eustis,  who  led  the  light  artillery  in  the  attack  on  Toronto;  Gen. 
John  R.  Fenwick,  a  South  -  Carolinian,  badly  wounded  at  Oueenstown 
Heights ;  and  Gen.  W.  K.  Armistead  of  Virginia,  who  commanded  in  the 
famous  Seminole  campaigns  of  Florida.  Among  the  subordinates  in  the 
garrison  were  Col.  J.  Snelling,  from  whom  a  fort  in  Minnesota  was  named  ; 
Samuel  Cooper,  who  became  adjutant-general  of  the  rebel  army  in  i86t  ; 
and  B.  L.  E.  Bonneville,  the  Tennesseean  officer  whose  journal  of  a  jour- 
ney across  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  edited  by  Washington  Irving. 

On  the  lonely  shores  of  City  Point,  occasional  duels  took  place,  as  when 
Rand  and  Miller  met  there  in  mortal  combat.  The  officers  at  the  fort  saw 
them,  and  sent  a  barge  to  stop  the  fight;  but,  before  it  reached  the  shore, 
Rand  was  shot  through  the  heart,  leaped  high  in  the  air,  and  fell  dead. 
The  island  itself  was  the  scene  of  several  duels ;  and  on  the  glacis  still 
stands  the  marble  monument  of  Lieut.  Massie  of  the  Light  Artillery,  who 
was  slain  in  this  manner  (in  181 7)  when  but  21  years  \>f  age.  The  pathetic 
little  memorial  bears  this  couplet:  — 

Here  Honour  comes,  a  Pilgrim  gray, 
To  Deck  the  turf,  that  wraps  his  clay. 

In  the  quiet  years  succeeding  the  War  of  1812,  a  small  garrison  remained 
here,  whose  most  interesting  member  was  private  Rochford,  a  veteran  of 
Wolfe's  Canadian  campaigns  and  a  British  soldier  at  Bunker  Hill,  who 
drifted  hither  in  his  white  old  age,  and  had  a  home  given  him  on  the  island. 
He  was  the  minstrel  of  the  post,  continually  composing  songs  of  war  and 


ICING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  145 

adventure,  which  he  sang  to  groups  of  his  comrades,  sunning  themselves  on 
the  quiet  parade-ground.  Occasionally  there  was  a  flurry  of  excitement,  as 
when  (in  1806)  a  band  of  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Osages  and  Pawnees,  were  re- 
ceived here  with  military  honors;  or  when  Gov.  Strong  visited  this  alien  stron- 
hold  in  his  sovereign  State ;  or  at  the  unfortunate  times  when  soldiers  guilty 
of  high  crimes  were  executed  in  presence  of  the  assembled  troops. 

For  fifty  years  this  was  one  of  the  quietest  garrisons  on  the  long 
coast-line  of  the  United  States.  New  armaments  were  brought  on  from 
time  to  time  ;  the  troops  in  the  barracks  gave  place,  according  to  army  rota- 
tion, to  companies  ordered  hither  from  the  forts  along  the  Gulf  or  among 
the  Sierras  ;  and  the  ancient  walls  were  replaced  by  the  new  works  which 
now  occupy  the  ground.  But,  when  the  Secession  War  broke  out,  Gov. 
Andrew  reported  that  the  Boston  forts  were  "  entirely  unmanned,"  and  asked 
authority  to  put  a  State  regiment  into  them.  A  little  later  he  ordered  the  4th 
Battalion  of  Infantry  on  the  island.  The  post  was  commanded  by  Major 
Stevenson,  who  became  a  general,  and  was  killed  in  the  Wilderness.  Among 
the  bright  young  fellows  who  entered  the  school  of  war  at  Fort  Independence 
were  Barstow,  who  died  at  Newbern ;  Abbott,  killed  in  the  Wilderness,  when 
major  of  the  20th;  Robeson  and.Mudge,  who  died  at  Gettysburg;  and 
Russell,  Hallowed,  and  Crowninshield,  each  of  whom  won  a  colonelcy  in  the 
field.  When  Banks  was  whipped  by  Stonewall  Jackson,  and  a  wild  panic 
ran  through  the  North,  the  garrison  of  Fort  Independence  was  sent  away  to 
the  front,  and  the  Independent  Corps  of  Cadets  took  its  place.  Early  in 
the  year  1863  the  island  was  made  a  headquarters  for  recruits,  which  the 
General  Government  was  demanding  of  Massachusetts  in  larger  and  larger 
quotas,  as  if  the  Bay  State  were  a  fountain  of  sword-bearers.  When  the 
draft-riots  broke  out  in  Boston,  the  garrison  was  hurried  into  the  city  to  aid 
in  the  protection  of  property.  At  the  end  of  1863  the  fort  contained  107 
cannon,  including  40  24-  and  32-pounders  in  barbette,  and  54  guns  of  the 
same  grade,  and  21  large  columbiads,  in  casemates. 

Fort  Independence  was  evacuated  about  three  years  ago,  in  pursuance 
of  Gen.  Hancock's  policy  of  concentrating  his  garrisons,  so  that  better 
discipline  and  drill  may  be  maintained  in  larger  posts.  The  parade-ground 
and  quarters  at  Fort  Warren  are  commodious ;  and  the  troops  were  trans- 
ferred to  that  point,  where  they  may  become  familiar  with  the  position  which 
is  the  key  to  the  harbor.  The  Castle  is  now  defended  only  by  Ordnance- 
Sergeant  Maguire,  who  finds  quite  enough  to  do  in  warning  off  unauthorized 
visitors  from  the  closely  adjacent  shores  of  South  Boston.  A  few  laborers 
are  kept  at  work,  repairing  the  damages  of  envious  time,  sodding  the  ram- 
parts, etc. ;  and  they  toil  on,  day  after  day,  in  a  shamefaced  and  somnolent 
way,  as  if  half-aware  how  alien  from  nineteenth-century  life  is  this  patching 
of  mediaeval  walls.     But  the  tompions  of  the  great  guns  are  kept  well-oiled ; 


I46  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

and  in  the  magazine  are  cartridge-bags  of  powder  (with  grains  as  large  as 
walnuts),  and  piles  of  sabots,  and  cannon-balls  and  shells  of  mammoth  pro- 
portions. If  the  Inflexible,  or  the  La  Galissoniere,  or  the  Italia  can  shed 
such  fiery  raindrops  from  their  mailed  sides,  they  must  be  the  works  of 
gods,  rather  than  of  men. 

This  fortress,  which  the  old  fishermen  and  pilots  still  call  "  The  Castle," 
is  the  most  ancient  military  post  in  the  United  States,  continuously  occu- 
pied for  defensive  purposes;  and  its  records  (up  to  1803)  fill  a  huge  folio 
volume,  whose  pages  are  closely  written  over  in  the  delicate  clerkly  hand  of 
fourscore  years  ago.  This  very  interesting  chronicle  was  deposited  by 
/Gen.  Benham  (in  1875)  m  tne  care  °£  the^Njej!tEliglaad--Historix^Cienealogi- 
)*cal  Society,  and  has  furnished  some  of  the  incidents  herein  set  forth. 
Probably  this  is  the  oldest  virgin  fortress  in  the  world.  Important  as  its 
position  is,  and  often  as  hostile  flags  and  armaments  have  been  within  sight 
of  its  walls,  the  fort  has  never  been  besieged,  and  has  never  surrendered 
to  an  alien  summons.  One  after  another,  new  flags  have  succeeded  each 
other  on  its  tall  banner-staff,  —  the  crossless  flag  of  Endicott,  the  cross  of 
St.  George,  the  crown-emblazoned  red  cross  on  a  white  field,  the  pine-tree 
flag,  the  white  ensign  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  broad  banner  of  the  United 
States  ;  but  their  halyards  have  been  drawn  by  no  hostile  hands.  What  other 
fortress  can  show  so  stainless  a  record  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ? 

How  short  is  the  distance  between  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  when, 
in  a  half-hour,  one  may  pass  from  the  intense  modern  activities  of  State 
Street,  or  the  dull  decorum  of  the  Back-Bay  residence-quarter,  to  this  lonely 
and  deserted  fortress,  with  the  fresh  east  wind  rustling  the  long  grass  on 
its  parapets,  and  undisturbed  birds  flying  in  and  out  of  the  gloomy  case- 
mates !  Under  these  gray  walls  (modern,  indeed,  but  laid  in  the  mould  of 
antiquity)  you  may  dream  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  of  the  wars  of  the  Holy 
League,  of  the  storming  of  Quebec,  —  or  you  may  read  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
or  Charles  Lever,  or  the  noble  old  "  Chronicle  of  a  Drum."  If  the  day  is 
drowsy,  you  may  hear  strange  sounds,  —  the  psalm-chanting  of  the  ancient 
Puritan  garrison ;  the  martial  tread  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  pacing  up  and 
down  the  narrow  parade-ground;  the  plaintive  songs  of  the  Acadian  exiles; 
the  resounding  oaths  of  the  British  officers ;  the  reverberating  thunder  of 
Washington's  bombardment  of  Boston  ;  the  nasal  twang  of  companies  of 
Yankee  "trainers;"  the  crash  of  the  Shannon's  fatal  broadsides;  and  the 
reveille  of  the  assembling  Massachusetts  volunteers  in  the  last  war.  Then 
the  great  bells  in  the  neighboring  city  peal  out  the  noon  hour,  an  excur- 
sion-boat rushes  by,  with  its  band  playing  favorite  airs  from  "  Olivette,"  or 
"  The  Merry  War ;"  the  swell  from  an  in-bound  British  steamship  breaks 
along  the  strand;  and  you  are  aroused  from  mediaeval  dreams,  to  take 
part  in  the  new  life  which  is  stirring  in  the  world  of  to-day. 


AV.Ycrs   HANDBOOK   (>/■'  BOSTON   HARBOR.  147 


ffiobcntor's  Islanti   nnti  JFort  QHmtjjrojj. 

JOHN    WINTHROP  AND   HIS   CHILDREN. —  THE   GREAT   FORTRESS.— 
THE   CITADEL. 

HIS  high  green  island  is  very  conspicuous  in  all  views  of  the  upper 
harbor,  and  lies  within  two  miles  of  Long  Wharf,  and  less  than 
a  mile  from  Fort  Independence.  It  is  occupied  by  the  strongest 
earthwork  in  Massachusetts,  at  present  ungarrisoned,  but  heavily  armed. 
In  ancient  times  the  place  was  much  more  visited  than  now,  when  the 
frowning  defences  of  a  military  post  have  supplanted  the  homes  of  summer 
rest.  The  locality  was  first  known  as  Conant's  Island,  probably  in  honor 
of  Roger  Conant,  some  time  a  conspicuous  citizen  of  Hull.  After  the 
Colony  granted  it  to  John  Winthrop,  the  head  of  the  infant  State,  in  1632, 
it  was  called  Governor's  Island,  and  its  annual  rent  was  placed  at  a  hogs- 
head of  wine  that  should  be  made  thereon;  and  afterwards  two  bushels  of 
the  best  apples  there  growing,  —  by  which  means  the  sagacious  Winthrop 
secured  an  exemption  until  such  time  as  his  vineyard  or  orchard  became 
productive.  As  to  the  apples,  one  bushel  was  to  be  given  to  the  governor 
of  the  Colony,  and  another  to  the  legislature :  so  that  he  thus  secured  for 
himself  one-half  of  his  own  tribute.  Here,  in  his  famous  "  Governor's 
Garden,"  with  his  Indian  servants,  the  worthy  Puritan  chieftain  enjoyed 
many  a  happy  day,  and  regarded  his  rising  metropolis  across  the  narrow 
channel  with  dignity  and  comfort.  Here  he  doubtless  smoked  many  a 
sweet  and  contemplative  pipe,  amid  whose  blue  wreaths  of  incense  he  may 
have  built  strange  prophetic  air-castles  along  Beacon  Hill,  as  the  sun  went 
down  behind  that  august  height.  In  a  letter  written  to  his  wife,  in  1637,  he 
says :  "  I  pray  thee  send  me  six  or  seven  leaves  of  tobacco,  dried  and 
powdered ;  "  and  so,  in  common  with  his  great  contemporary  John  Milton, 
and  his  doughty  Dutch  neighbors  at  New  Amsterdam,  he  found  joy  in  the 
most  un-Puritanic  of  weeds.  The  present  lord  of  the  island  maintains 
the  ancient  traditions,  both  as  to  devoutness  and  smoking. 

The  governor  planted  here  the  first  apple  and  pear  trees   in   New  Eng-    ) 

land,  and  made  gallant  efforts  to  raise,  also,  grapes,  plums,  and  other  fruits. 
Many  a  noble  orchard  of  the  Bay  towns  may  show  lineal  descent  from  this 
island-nursery ;  and  the  Yankee  Pomona  can  justly  claim  this  as  her  birth- 
place and  shrine.  His  Puritanic  Excellency  found  it  worth  while  to  erect 
a  small  fort,  or  blockhouse,  here ;  and  also  had  some  kind  of  a  house  in 
which  to  live  during  parts   of  the  heated   season.     The   hospitality  of  the 


148  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

place  was  bestowed  freely  on  visitors  and  immigrants  of  distinction.  In 
1638  Josselyn  wrote  that  there  was  not  an  apple  or  pear  tree  in  all  New 
England,  save  those  on  Governor's  Island  ;  and  described  how  he  had  en- 
joyed the  pippins  there  produced.  In  1643  the  Huguenot  noble,  La  Tour, 
who  had  been  driven  from  his  fort  at  St.  John  by  D'Aulnay,  an  adventurous 
relative  of  Cardinal  Richelieu,  sailed  into  Boston  Harbor  in  a  ship  with  140 
Huguenots  from  La  Rochelle,  and  visited  Winthrop  on  his  island,  seeking 
aid  against  his  Catholic  enemy.  The  austere  Puritans  referred  to  the  Bible 
to  see  if  they  could  find  any  precedent  for  such  action,  but  found  no  certain 
response  from  that  oracle.  "  On  the  one  hand,  it  was  said  that  the  speech 
of  the  Prophet  to  Jehoshaphat,  in  2d  Chronicles  xix.  2,  and  the  portion  of 
Solomon's  Proverbs  contained  in  chap.  xxvi.  17th  verse,  not  only  discharged 
them  from  any  obligation,  but  actually  forbade  them  to  assist  La  Tour; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  agreed  that  it  was  as  lawful  for  them  to  give 
him  succor  as  it  was  for  Joshua  to  aid  the  Gibeonites  against  the  rest  of  the 
Canaanites,  or  for  Jehoshaphat  to  aid  Jehoram  against  Moab,  in  which  expe- 
dition Elisha  was  present,  and  did  not  reprove  the  king  of  Judah."  But 
when  they  had  assured  themselves  that  it  would  be  allowable  for  them  to 
aid  the  distressed  nobleman,  they  sent  such  a  fleet  that  D'Aulnay's  forces 
were  quickly  scattered. 

In  Winthrop's  first  will,  he  wrote  thus  :  "  I  give  to  my  son  Adam  my 
island  called  the  Governor's  Garden,  to  have  to  him  and  his  heirs  forever; 
not  doubting  but  he  will  be  dutiful  and  loving  to  his  mother,  and  kind  to  his 
brethren  in  letting  them  partake  in  such  fruits  as  grow  there.  I  give  him 
also  my  Indians  there,  and  my  boat,  and  such  household  as  is  there."  Soon 
afterwards,  and  eight  years  before  his  death,  the  governor  settled  the  island 
on  Adam  and  his  heirs,  reserving  for  himself  one-third  of  its  fruits. 
Twenty  years  later  the  owners  petitioned  the  General  Court  to  remit  its 
tribute  of  apples,  saying  that  the  product  had  greatly  fallen  off.  Adam 
Winthrop  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Cambridge  Winthrops,  so  called  because 
his  son  Professor  John  Winthrop  was  for  more  than  forty  years  connected 
with  Harvard  College,  where  he  achieved  great  works  in  science.  It  was 
the  professor's  grandson,  Col.  John  Winthrop  of  Louisiana,  who  owned  the 
island  when  the  United  States  took  possession  of  it,  in  1833. 

Margaret  Winthrop  and  her  family  often  dwelt  on  the  island,  among. its 
pleasant  orchards  of  apples,  pears,  and  plums,  and  under  its  hard-blown 
grape-vines.  Here  her  five  sturdy  sons  made  visits,  when  the  cool  harbor 
breezes  wooed  them  from  the  little  town  of  wood  and  thatch  close  by.  Of 
these  were  Adam,  the  heir;  John,  the  founder  of  New  London,  and  gov- 
ernor of  Connecticut ;  Stephen,  who  became  one  of  Cromwell's  colonels, 
and  member  of  Parliament  from  Aberdeen  ;  Deane,  a  resident  of  the  pres- 
ent town  of  Winthrop ;  and  Samuel,  who  became  deputy-governor  of  An- 


KING'S  HANDBOOK'  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


149 


tigua,  and  ancestor  of.  Lord  Lyons  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  —  "and  thus 
the  Puritan  blood  of  Margaret  Winthrop  is  found  flowing  in  Old  England, 
after  two  and  a  half  centuries,  in  the  veins  not  merely  of  the  highest 
nobility,  but  of  the  leading  Roman-Catholic  family  of  the  realm." 

The  colonists  had  trouble  enough  with  this  mountainous  guard  of  the 
port.  Not  only  did  it  lure  on  to  its  strand  the  good  ship  Frie7idsJiip, 
bound  for  St.  Kitts,  in  1631  ;  and  hold  here  for  a  week  a  half-dozen  good 
Puritan  burghers,  in  1635,  while  an  angry  sea  beat  on  all  its  shores;  but 
also,  in  1643,  terrible  voices  were  heard  issuing  therefrom,  which  could  not 
have  been  the  accents  of  the  good  governor,  and  "  sparkles  "  of  lire  cor- 


Fort  Winthrop,   Governor's  Island. 


ruscated  on  its  heights.  For  a  brief  space  the  Governor's  Garden  was 
regarded  as  an  isle  of  demons  by  the  superstitious  and  witch-ridden  Bos- 
tonese.  In  1696,  however,  the  committee  on  defences  ordered  the  construc- 
tion of  an  eight-gun  battery  on  the  south-east  point,  and  a  ten-gun  battery 
on  the  south-west  point,  the  cannon  to  be  taken  from  the  works  on  the  town- 
wharves.  French  visitors  were  then  expected,  and  they  were  to  be  held  at 
arm's-length  down  the  Bay.  Exactly  fifty  years  later  new  and  more  for- 
midable fortifications  were  begun  here  by  Richard  Gridley,  the  chief  bom- 
bardier in  the  siege  of  Louisburg,  colonel  of  the  First  Massachusetts 
Regiment,  Provincial  Grand  Master  of  Masons  in  America,  a  Harvard  man, 
editor,   lawyer  ("the  Webster  of    his  day"),  mathematician,  and  military 


I50  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

engineer.  We  cannot  learn  much  of  the  residents  of  the  island  in  those  days, 
but  at  least  one  hero  was  cradled  there.  When  David  Williams  was  born 
on  this  island,  in  1759,  it  might  have  been  an  easy  task  to  cast  his  horo- 
scope, and  predict  that  the  infant  whose  eyes  first  rested  on  a  broad  rim  of 
blue  waters,  across  lines  of  redoubts,  should  become  (as  he  did)  a  famous 
and  valiant  pilot  and  privateersman.  But  little  is  heard  of  the  island  thence- 
forth until  1776,  when  several  British  transports  were  driven  ashore  here  by 
the  furious  gale  which  prevented  Lord  Percy  from  being  annihilated  on  Dor- 
chester Heights.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  rattling  skirmishes  and  cannon- 
ades with  which  nearly  every  other  island  was  visited  came  near  this  spot, 
where  peace  reigned  in  desolation.  In  1793  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  held  a  meeting  here  ;  James  Winthrop,  one  of  its  owners,  being  then 
a  member  of  the  society.  Fifteen  years  later  the  summit  of  the  island  was 
occupied  by  Fort  Warren,  an  enclosed  star-fort  of  stone  and  brick,  with  brick 
barracks,  officers'  quarters,  magazine,  and  guard-house.  During  the  War 
of  181 2  these  works  were  fully  garrisoned ;  but  Gen.  Dearborn  considered 
this  point  the  key  of  the  harbor,  and  laid  out  new  defences,  inviting  the 
men  of  Boston  to  come  down  with  spades,  pick-axes,  and  wheelbarrows,  to 
aid  in  their  construction.  The  low  battery  on  the  southern  point  of  Gov- 
ernor's Island  was  built  several  years  before  the  War  of  1812,  of  brick  and 
stone,  with  a  brick  guard-house  and  magazine;  and  once  mounted  fifteen 
cannon.  It  is  a  picturesque  bit  of  antique  fortification,  whose  purpose  was  to 
sweep  the  wide  flats  adjacent,  and  deliver  a  level  point-blank  fire  at  the  hulls 
of  hostile  vessels  passing  in  the  channel.  Later,  in  the  War  of  1812,  the 
Sea-Fencibles  went  on  duty  to  guard  the  batteries,  and  mortars  were  placed 
in  the  works.  Furnaces  stood  ready,  so  that  all  the  shot  required  for  the 
guns  could  be  heated;  and  the  presumably  gallant  defenders  dreamed  fondly 
of  British  ships-of-the-line  bursting  into  flames,  as  these  red-hot  globes  of 
iron  plumped  into  them  from  water-line  to  shrouds.  The  commanders  of  the 
Shannon  and  Tenedos  must  have  heard  that  the  irate  Sea-Fencibles  were 
dashing  their  tarry  toplights  on  this  gloomy  isle,  for  they  kept  their  ships 
far  out  in  the  offing  until  the  war  was  over. 

During  the  days  of  Lieut.-Gov.  Thomas  L.  Winthrop,  the  island  was 
celebrated  for  its  hospitality ;  and  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  had 
meetings  on  its  green  mounds,  where  the  venerable  antiquaries  could  discuss 
the  genealogies  of  Peter  Cakebread  and  Robert  Bootefish,  and  the  "  three 
brothers,  one  of  whom  landed  in  Virginia,"  etc.,  without  alarming  the  town. 
Lieut.-Gov.  Winthrop,  the  grandfather  of  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop, 
was  not  a  proprietor  of  the  island,  since  he  was  descended  from  Gov.  John 
of  Connecticut;  but  received  the  freedom  of  the  estate  from  his  friends 
and  kinsmen,  the  Cambridge  Winthrops. 

The  fortress  which  now  rambles,  apparently  without  plan,  over  the  high 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  1 5  I 

bluffs,  was  commenced  some  years  before  the  Secession  War,  under  the 
dire<  tion  of  Gen.  Sylvanus  Thayer.  The  name  of  Fort  Warren  was  then 
transferred  to  the  modern  work  on  George's  Island;  and  the  new  defence 
here  received  the  name  of  Fort  Winthrop,  in  honor  of  the  ancient  Puritan 
governor.  In  1S61  it  had  received  no  armament,  and  had  never  been  occu- 
pied as  a  military  post;  but  when  Gen.  Schouler  inspected  the  defences 
late  in  1863,  he  found  at  Fort  Winthrop  25  large  Rodman  guns,  and  11 
pieces  of  other  calibres  and  forms.  Various  companies  of  State  militia 
and  volunteers  garrisoned  the  post  during  the  civil  war,  and  found  it  an 
ineffably  dull  station. 

The  island  contains  seventy  acres  of  land,  comparatively  low  on  the 
east,  and  rising  to  a  fine  commanding  height  on  the  west.  Here  are  the 
great  military  works,  on  which  vast  sums  of  money  have  been  expended  by 
the  Nation.  There  is  little  of  the  delusive  symmetry  of  masonry  to  be 
seen ;  for  vast  mounds  of  well-turfed  earth  cover  the  entire  hill,  with  pon- 
derous outworks  on  the  bluff  to  the  eastward,  mountainous  magazines,  and 
skilfully  contrived  traverses.  Flere  and  there  long  underground  passages, 
arched  with  masonry,  lead  from  one  battery  to  another,  or  enter  the  main 
stronghold.  At  the  crest  of  the  hill  is  the  citadel,  —  a  massive  granite 
structure,  so  well  curtained  by  impenetrable  earthworks  that  only  its  top  is 
visible  from  the  harbor,  and  entered  by  a  light  wooden  bridge  high  above 
the  ground.  The  lower  story,  with  its  roof  hung  with  small  stalactites,  con- 
tains the  cistern ;  the  second  story  is  the  barracks  of  the  garrison,  with 
rooms  opening  on  an  interior  court ;  the  third  story  contains  the  officers' 
quarters ;  and  above,  on  the  top,  covered  by  a  temporary  roof  to  protect 
them  from  the  weather,  are  the  immense  Parrott  rifled  guns,  which  look 
down  on  the  harbor.  On  the  south  of  the  hill  a  long  stone  stairway,  so  built 
that  it  cannot  be  raked,  or  carried  by  a  rush,  leads  to  a  battery  at  the  water's 
edge.  Among  these  heavy  mounds,  lurk  scores  of  powerful  10  and  15  inch 
guns,  well  mounted,  and  peering  grimly  out  on  the  channel,  as  if  hoping, 
with  a  clogged  iron  patience,  that  some  time  their  hour  may  come.  Mean- 
while Sergt.  Schwartz,  gray  veteran  of  Mexican  and  Southern  wars,  keeps 
watch  over  the  fortress,  from  his  quarters  in  the  time-blackened  barracks 
near  the  eastern  end  of  the  island,  and  hangs  the  keys  of  the  frowning 
citadel  among  the  pictures  of  the  saints  in  his  little  parlor.  A  phalanx  of 
fierce  black  dogs  stand  guard  at  the  farmhouse  by  the  wharf,  and  make  a 
securer  defence  than  good-natured  Irish-American  sentinels  could;  and  on 
the  glacis,  and  up  the  slopes  of  the  ramparts  above,  plump  cattle  graze 
through  the  long  day,  and  look  wisely  out  over  the  thronged  harbor. 

Bird  Island  formerly  lay  close  to  Governor's  Island,  toward  the  north- 
west ;  and  its  site  is  marked  by  a  spindle,  rising  over  a  gravelly  shoal.    The 


152  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

loss  of  this  bold  bluff,  around  which  the  narrowed  tide  swept  with  scouring 
force,  was  reckoned  by  Professor  Gould  as  one  of  the  worst  disasters  which 
has  befallen  the  harbor.  The  original  shape  of  each  of  these  islands  was 
that  of  a  perfect  dome  ;  but  the  continuous  action  of  the  north-east  gales  and 
surges  for  centuries  has  cut  away  half  of  their  curves,  leaving  almost  per- 
pendicular cliffs  on  their  north  sides :  and  in  this  case  every  thing  has  been 
destroyed,  and  only  the  low-tide  wreck  of  an  island  appears. 

Bird  Island  was  a  spacious  tract  in  the  year  1630,  as  large,  according  to 
Professor  Gould,  as  Governor's  Island  now  is.  In  1634  a  party  of  men 
were  frozen  in,  and  obliged  to  stay  here  all  night.  A  few  years  later  the 
right  to  mow  grass  on  the  adjacent  meadow  was  granted  by  the  General 
Court  to  Thomas  Munt.  In  1726  the  French  miscreant,  John  Battis,  with 
his  son,  and  three  Indians,  were  hung  at  Charlestown,  and  then  cut  down, 
and  carried  out,  —  a  ghastly  freight,  —  and  buried  on  Bird  Island.  Other 
criminals,  pirates,  and  sea-robbers  were  put  to  death,  and  buried  here,  or 
hung  in  chains,  making  a  ghastly  but  perhaps  salutary  spectacle  before  the 
wharves  and  shipping.  In  1790  there  still  remained  a  handsome  grassy 
islet  on  this  site ;  but  afterwards  a  great  deal  of  ballast  and  sand  was  re- 
moved therefrom,  as  Mayor  Ouincy  complained  in  1827.  The  same  thought- 
less dilapidations  seriously  injured  Gallop's,  Long,  the  Brewster,  and  other 
of  the  lower  islands.  But  little  such  help  was  needed,  however,  for  Wabun, 
the  East  Wind,  and  his  allied  waves,  to  batter  down  the  hill  of  gibbets,  and 
blot  it  out  from  the  offended  Bay. 


Sergeant  Schwartz,   Fort  Winthrop. 


ICING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  1 5 3 


Efjampsan's  Islanti   anU   Spectacle  IslanU. 

A   SCOTTISH  WORTHY.  — THE   BOSTON    FARM    SCHOOL.  — A  BOURNE  OF   DEAD 
HORSES.— APPLE   ISLAND. 

HOMPSON'S  ISLAND  is  three  miles  from  Long  Wharf, 
one  mile  from  Castle  Island,  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Savin 
Hill,  and  half  a  mile  from  Squantum,  to  which  one  may 
almost  wade  at  very  low  tide.  There  are  broad  flats  on 
the  east  and  south,  and  deep  channels  on  the  north  and 
west.  The  bar  on  the  south  has  long  been  famous  for  its 
delicious  clams ;  and  many  a  feast  did  the  old  provincial  Dorchestrians 
enjoy  on  the  adjacent  shore.  It  is  a  narrow  island,  a  mile  long,  with  157 
acres  of  good  and  fertile  soil,  rising  into  two  hills,  and  indented  by  a 
cove.  The  salt-water  pond,  which  formerly  covered  part  of  the  lowlands, 
has  been  dyked  and  drained,  like  a  new  Haarlem  Sea,  and  its  site  is  now 
occupied  by  fertile  meadows.  On  West  Head  stands  a  pleasant  grove, 
planted  about  the  year  1840,  by  the  Hon.  Theodore  Lyman,  who  also 
bequeathed  $10,000  to  the  Farm  School.  The  trees  which  diversify  the 
slopes  produce  excellent  fruits,  and  the  rich  soil  of  the  island  brings  forth 
notably  good  crops. 

An  ancient  tradition  says,  that  in  1619  Thompson  examined  the  harbor- 
islands,  in  company  with  Masconomo,  the  sagamore  of  Agawam  (who  made 
an  affidavit  to  this  effect),  seeking  a  proper  place  to  establish  his  trading- 
post:  and  chose  the  island  which  still  bears  his  name,  because  it  had  a 
small  river  and  a  harbor  for  boats.  In  1620  Miles  Standish  came  hither 
with  William  Trevour,  a  sailor  of  the  Mayflower,  and  named  it  Island 
Trevour,  reporting,  "and  then  no  Natives  there  inhabiting,  neither  was  there 
any  signe  of  any  that  had  been  there  that  I  could  perceive,  nor  of  many, 
many  yeares  after."  Trevour  made  affidavit  that  he  took  possession  in  the 
name  of  Mr.  David  Thompson,  gentleman,  of  London ;  who,  indeed,  soon 
afterwards  secured  a  grant  of  the  locality.  He  had  been  sent  over  by 
Gorges  and  Mason  to  superintend  their  settlement  at  Portsmouth ;  and, 
when  Standish  went  thither  to  seek  supplies  for  the  starving  Pilgrims, 
Thompson  returned  to  Plymouth  with  him.  From  thence  he  and  Gorges 
journeyed  to  Weymouth,  and  sailed  from  that  embayed  port  to  Portsmouth. 
They  probably  examined  the  island  at  this  time;  for  in  1626  Thompson 
returned,  and  established  here  one  of  the  first  permanent  settlements  in  the 
harbor,  antedating  Boston  by  several  years.     It  was  a  trading-post,  where 


154  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  Indians  exchanged  their  beaver-furs  and  fish  for  the  trinkets  of  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  the  same  proprietor  had  a  similar  place  on  the  Kennebec.  The 
island  was  taken  possession  of  as  vacuum  domicilium,  to  which  no  man 
had  claim  ;  and  its  advantages  were  vicinity  to  the  sea,  good  anchorage 
under  the  lee  of  Castle  Island,  and  vicinity  to  the  Neponset  Indians. 
Blackstone  testified  that  he  knew  "ould  Mr.  Thompson,"  who  chose  this 
place  for  settlement  because  "  there  is  a  harbor  in  the  island  for  a  boat, 
which  none  of  the  rest  of  the  islands  had.'' 

The  Scottish  island-lord  took  a  deep  and  kindly  interest  in  his  Indian 
neighbors,  concerning  whom  he  had  fantastic  theories.  In  conversations 
with  Morton  of  Merry-Mount,  and  his  mysterious  neighbor,  Sir  Christopher 
Gardiner,  he  maintained  a  belief  that  they  were  descended  "from  the  scat- 
tered Trojans,  after  such  time  as  Brutus  left  Latium."  But  he  drove  sharp 
bargains  with  the  descendants  of  Priam  and  Paris,  and  piled  up  many  a 
bale  of  peltries  in  his  little  castle  of  logs.  Near  by  were  Morton,  and  the 
Wessagusset  colonists,  and  other  isolated  settlers,  the  unwitting  pioneers  of 
a  great  company.  It  was  of  these  that  Prince  wrote,  "To  the  south-east, 
near  Thompson's  Island,  live  some  few  Planters  more.  These  were  the 
first  Planters  of  these  Parts,  having  some  small  Trade  with  the  Natives, 
for  Bever  Skins,  which  moved  them  to  make  their  abode  in  those  places, 
and  are  found  of  some  help  to  the  new  colony." 

Thompson  was  a  Scottish  gentleman,  a  traveller  and  scholar  as  well,  and 
had  been  the  London  agent  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges's  company,  for  whose 
interests  he  had  appeared  even  before  the  Privy  Council.  He  died  in  1628, 
leaving  his  wife  and  infant  son  to  garrison  the  jsland,  and  to  give  generous 
hospitality  to  the  colonists  of  Boston  and  Dorchester.  After  the  arrival  of 
the  Puritan  fleet,  the  good  Episcopalian  lady  abandoned  her  snug  Atlantis, 
and  sailed  away  to  where  she  could  hear  once  more  the  familiar  "  Let  your 
light  so  shine  "  in  some  distant  prelatical  realms.  In  1634  Massachusetts 
granted  the  island  to  Dorchester,  which  leased  it  for  twenty  pounds  a  year, 
the  revenue  to  be  applied  for  a  schoolmaster.  It  has  been  said  that  this 
was  "the  first  public  provision  made  for  a  free  school  in  the  world,  by  a 
direct  tax  or  assessment  on  the  inhabitants  of  a  town."  Fourteen  years 
later  came  David's  son,  John  Thompson,  demanding  his  birthright,  and 
bringing  affidavits  from  Trevour,  Standish,  Blackstone,  and  Masconomo,  to 
prove  his  claim.  The  General  Court  found  his  title  good,  and  restored  the 
island  to  him,  giving  to  Dorchester,  in  lieu  thereof,  a  thousand  acres  in  the 
present  town  of  Lunenburg.  Six  years  later  the  Indian  Winnequassam 
claimed  the  island,  but  was  decided  against  by  the  courts.  John  Thompson 
returned  to  England,  and  sold  his  Western  estate  to  two  Bristol  merchants. 
The  region  was  well  known  by  these  people  ;  for  since  1622  ships  of  Bristol 
had  visited   the    southern  part   of    Boston    Harbor,  at   the  annual  fishing- 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  I  55 

seasons,  exchanging  guns  and  ammunition  for  heaver,  martin,  and  mus- 
quash skins.  For  the  next  century  and  a  half  the  island  was  used  for 
farming,  with  but  a  single  flurry  of  excitement,  in  1775,  when  American 
foragers  destroyed  the  houses,  and  lit  up  Ouincy  Bay  with  their  flames. 

In  1834  the  proprietors  of  the  Boston  Farm  School  purchased  the  estate 
for  #6,000;  and  it  was  annexed  to  Boston,  with  the  precious  right  reserved 
to  the  Dorchestrians  of  digging  clams  on  its  banks.  A  handsome  brick 
building,  106  feet  long,  with  a  projection  in  the  centre,  was  erected,  with 
dining-hall  and  offices  on  first  floor,  schoolrooms  on  second  floor,  and  dormi- 
tories above.  In  1835  the  Boston  Asylum  for  Indigent  Boys  was  united  j 
with  the  Farm  School.  There  are  about  100  boys  (of  from  8  to  17  years  of 
age)  on  the  island,  for  whom  the  school  stands  in  loco  fta?-entzs.  Up  at 
sunrise,  and  busied  in  practical  studies  and  useful  labors,  the  lads  lead  a 
happy  and  contented  life  ;  and  their  health  is  efficiently  preserved  by  the 


Thompson's  Island,  from  South   Boston. 

pure  air  of  the  Bay  and  their  frequent  baths  in  the  sea.  Within  two  or- 
three  years  a  spacious  new  building  has  been  erected,  with  gymnasium 
and  work-shops,  where  the  boys  may  receive  a  practical  mechanical  train- 
ing. Some  of  the  graduates  of  this  school  have  occupied  high  and  honor- 
able positions  in  the  outer  world ;  and  many  of  them  visit  the  island 
in  after-life  to  renew  their  memories  of  the  place  once  so  dear  to  them. 
The  great  catastrophe  of  the  institution  is  now  almost  forgotten.  It 
occurred  in  April,  1842,  when  a  large  boat,  full  of  the  boys,  returning  from 
a  fishing-excursion  down  the  harbor,  was  upset  by  a  sudden  squall, 
and  twenty-three  of  the  lads  were  drowned,  besides  the  boatman  and  a 
teacher. 

As  a  well-known  citizen  said,  40  years  ago :  "  That  little  island  reminds 
one  of  the  old  mythological  fable  of  Latona,  who,  when  she  had  no 
place  on  earth  for  her  to  bring  forth  and  rear  up  her  young,  had  an 
island  created  for  her  own  special  uses :  and  something  like  it  exists  here  ; 


156  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

for  when  the  boys  who  prowl  about  our  city  streets,  fatherless,  motherless, 
forlorn,  and  homeless,  are  discovered,  this  little  Thompson's  Island  rises  as 
a  refuge  for  them ;  and  here  they  are  sheltered  and  educated,  until  they  are 
fit  to  go  forth  into  the  great  world,  and  battle  manfully  with  it."  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  this  is  not  a  reformatory  institution,  but  a  home- 
school  for  teaching  practical  farming  and  the  common  educational  branches 
to  indigent  American  boys  of  good  character. 

Hawthorne  once  visited  the  Farm  School,  and  thus  reported  his  experi- 
ence :  "  A  stroll  round  the  island,  examining  the  products,  as  wheat  in 
sheaves  on  the  stubble-field ;  oats  somewhat  blighted  and  spoiled ;  great 
pumpkins  elsewhere  ;  pastures;  mowing  ground,  —  all  cultivated  by  the  boys. 
Their  residence,  a  great  brick  building,  painted  green,  and  standing  on  the 
summit  of  a  rising  ground,  exposed  to  the  winds  of  the  bay.  Vessels  flitting 
past ;  great  ships  with  intricacy  of  rigging  and  various  sails ;  schooners, 
sloops,  with  their  one  or  two  broad  sheets  of  canvas ;  going  on  different 
tacks,  so  that  the  spectator  might  think  that  there  was  a  different  wind  for 
each  vessel,  or  that  they  scudded  across  the  sea  spontaneously,  whither  their 
own  wills  led  them.  The  farm  boys  remain  insulated,  looking  at  the  passing 
show,  within  sight  of  the  city,  yet  having  nothing  to  do  with  it;  beholding 
their  fellow-creatures  skimming  by  them  in  winged  machines,  and  steam- 
boats snorting  and  puffing  through  the  waves.  Methinks  an  island  would 
be  the  most  desirable  of  all  landed  property,  for  it  seems  like  a  little  world 
by  itself ;  and  the  water  may  answer  for  the  atmosphere  that  surrounds 
planets.  The  boys  swinging,  two  together,  standing  up,  and  almost  causing 
the  ropes  and  their  bodies  to  stretch  out  horizontally.  On  our  departure 
they  ranged  themselves  on  the  rails  of  the  fence,  and,  being  dressed  in  blue, 
looked  not  unlike  a  flock  of  pigeons." 

The  views  from  Thompson's  Island  are  full  of  variety  and  beauty,  espe- 
cially from  the  high  ground  about  the  house,  and  include  broad  expanses 
of  azure  sea,  and  many  a  snug  little  island.  The  nearest  and  most  con- 
spicuous of  these  is  Spectacle  Island,  with  its  busy  colony  of  manipulators 
of  defunct  animals,  its  myriads  of  spiders,  and  its  unhallowed  perfumes. 
Here  is  exemplified  the  commendable  Old-World  thrift,  by  which  useless 
refuse  is  converted  into  products  of  value,  by  the  aid  of  ingenuity  and 
industry. 

Spectacle  Island  covers  about  sixty  acres,  its  graceful  trim  bluffs  being 
of  about  equal  size.  Sailing  down  the  harbor,  after  Castle  Island  is  passed, 
the  bold  headland  of  Spectacle  is  seen  on  the  right,  with  a  large  barn  on 
its  summit,  as  the  only  sign  of  human  occupancy.  From  other  points  appear 
the  rendering-works  and  their  chimneys,  low  down,  near  the  Bridge  of  the 
Nose. 

As  early  as  the  year  1666  Spectacle  Island  (even  then  so-called)  was,  for 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OK  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


157 


the  most  part,  owned  by  the  Bill  family,  who  continued  to  hold  it  for  nearly 
a  century.  In  16S4  Samuel  Bill  bought  it  from  the  son  of  Wampatuck, 
the  chief  of  the  Massachusetts  Indians,  who  inherited  his  father's  authority 
over  the  fast-diminishing  tribe.  The  deed  (now  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
F.  J.  Ward)  begins  thus :  "  By  these  presents  I  Do  fully,  freely,  absolutely 
give,  grant,  sell,  enfeaffe,  and  convey  unto  the  said  Samuel  Bill  his  heyeres 


Wreck  of  the  Brig  "Grace   Lothrop," 
Point  Allerton. 

and    Assignes  forever  one  certain 
Island,  Scituate  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay,   commonly   known    and    called 
by  the  name  of  Spectacle  Island." 

It  was  at  the  earliest  days  covered  with 
trees  ;  and  Winthrop  relates  that  a  party  of  thirty  men  came  down  here 
one  bright  January  day,  to  cut  wood.  They  were  overtaken  with  wind  and 
snow,  followed  by  extreme  cold  ;  and  so,  the  harbor  freezing,  except  for  a 
narrow  channel,  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  a  few  found  themselves  able 
to  get  as  far  towards  home  as  Castle  Island,  while  several  were  carried 
through  the  ice  to  the  Brewsters,  where  they  remained  two  days,  with 
neither  food  nor  fire,  suffering  intensely  from  the  extreme  cold. 

When  the  tide  is  low,  the  aptness  of  the  name  Spectacle  is  very  evident; 


158  KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

for  then  the  island  is  seen  to  consist  of  two  nearly  equal  parts,  connected 
by  a  narrow  isthmus.  Both  these  parts,  anciently  called  the  East  and  West 
Spectacles,  are  high,  —  the  northerly  one  being  a  bold  bluff,  facing  the  chan- 
nel. In  1 71 7  a  part  of  the  island,  "on  the  cleft  or  brow  of  the  southerly 
highland,"  was  sold  by  Mr.  Bill  to  the  town  ;  and  here  a  hospital  was  built, 
and  used  for  eighteen  years,  when  it  was  for  some  cause  removed  to  Rains- 
ford  Island.  In  1728,  when  H.  M.  S.  Sheerness  lay  just  off  Spectacle 
Island,  the  last  duel  was  fought  upon  Boston  Common,  and  young  Phillips 
killed  Woodbridge.  At  midnight  he  was  put  on  board  the  vessel.  She 
sailed  at  dawn,  and  his  forfeited  life  was  safe  from  the  Puritan  gibbet. 

When  Sir  Francis  Wheeler's  fleet  arrived  here,  after  its  unsuccessful 
expedition  against  Martinique,  with  yellow-fever  on  board,  Boston  wanted 
Spectacle  Island  for  a  quarantine  hospital.  In  1739  tne  estate  once  more 
belonged  to  the  Bill  family,  who  sold  it,  in  1742,  to  Edward  Bromfield,  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Boston.  For  many  decades  thereafter,  excursion- 
parties  from  the  happy  little  colonial  town  used  to  come  hither  on  summer 
days,  and  encamp  on  the  breezy  slopes,  or  prepare  their  gypsy  dinners  over 
driftwood  fires  on  the  beach.  In  1742  the  hay  which  had  been  made  here 
was  hauled  to  South  Boston  on  the  ice,  amid  much  provincial  merriment. 
But  the  waters  in  this  direction  were  not  always  safe  to  unarmed  excur- 
sionists;  for  very  novel  dangers  haunted  the  sea.  In  that  famous  week 
of  September,  1726,  when  twenty  bears  were  killed  within  two  miles  of 
Boston,  the  unfortunate  beasts  seem  to  have  concluded  that  they  might  find 
more  peaceful  shelter  down  the  harbor.  Two  were  sjain  while  swimming 
from  Spectacle  Island  to  an  adjacent  shore  ;  and,  a  little  farther  out  in  the 
channel,  a  boat  suffered  a  fierce  attack  from  a  large  bear,  which  was  beaten 
off,  with  great  difficulty,  by  the  use  of  boat-hooks  and  oars. 

As  the  nineteenth  century  advanced,  Spectacle  was  more  and  more 
favored  by  summer  visitors,  until  one  Woodroffe  opened  a  house  of  enter- 
tainment in  1847.  Here  the  current  events  were  discussed  by  parties  of 
grave  citizens,  —  the  annexation  of  California,  the  election  of  President 
Taylor,  the  rise  of  settlements  in  the  prairie  territories, — while  the  savory 
dishes  of  sea-products  were  in  preparation,  and  the  high-flavored  punch 
underwent  assimilation. 

In  1857  the  island  was  bought,  for  $15,000,  by  Nahum  Ward,  who 
founded  here  a  large  establishment  for  rendering  dead  horses,  still  in  pos- 
session and  full  activity.  At  this  time  there  stood  here  two  brick  powder- 
houses,  two  dwellings,  and  a  wharf.  Many  buildings  have  been  erected 
since,  to  accommodate  the  extensive  and  increasing  business.  In  1872  the 
lucrative  industry  of  rendering  cattle-bones  was  introduced  ;  and  in  1874 
came  the  rendering  of  tallow  and  suet.  The  tanks  are  of  iron,  and  all 
possible  precautions  are  taken  to  prevent  odors  from  getting  abroad  in  the 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


159 


harbor.  Every  day  the  steam-tug  and  barges  pertaining  to  the  company  go 
clown  from  their  wharf  on  Federal  Street,  laden  with  dead  horses  and 
refuse  from  slaughter-houses;  "which  matter,"  says  Mr.  Ward,  "if  it  were 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  city  for  three  days  in  summer,  would  cause  a 
plague"  There  are  30  men  employed  on  the  island,  and  13  families  dwell 
there.  The  vegetable-gardens  cover  5  acres,  and  the  mowing-land  37  acres. 
About  2,000  dead  horses  are  received  here  yearly,  from  points  within  ten 
miles;  and  their  products  are  hides,  hair,  oil,  and  bones.     This,  however, 


Rocks  on  the  Outer  Brewster.' 

is  not  a  leading  feature  of  the  business,  the  main  part  of  which  is  connected 
with  cattle-bones  and  tallow.  Other  articles  of  manufacture  are  glue-stock 
and  neat's-foot  oil.  Surely  this  must  be  one  of  the  Isles  of  Greece  ;  but 
even  the  harbor  muse  flouts  it,  thus  :  — ■ 

"  The  next,  for  frolic,  once  was  fam'd, 
In  ancient  happy  time  ; 
And  long,  lias  Spectacle  been  nam'd, 
A  name  unfit  for  rhyme." 

Apple  Island,  which  is  seen  on  the  left,  as  one  sails  down  the  harbor, 
is  nearly  three  miles  from  Boston,  and  just  off  the  shore  of  Winthrop.  It 
is  always  noticed  among  the  first,  simply  because  of  its  rare  grace,  rising  in 
a  gentle  slope  from  the  water's  edge,  —  such  a  perfect  shape,  crowned  with 


l6o  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

waving  elms  fifty  or  more  years  old,  proud  and  beautiful,  and  marking  the 
island  at  once  as  unlike  any  other.  At  low  water  it  is  for  some  distance 
surrounded  by  flats,  and  becomes  difficult  of  access.  In  very  early  times 
Apple  Island  belonged  to  Boston,  and  was  used  (like  the  other  islands) 
chiefly  for  pasturage ;  but  having  a  rich  soil,  and  being  well  sheltered,  it 
became  in  time  private  property,  owned  in  1723  by  the  Hon.  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  father  of  Gov.  Hutchinson,  who  was  the  author  of  the  His- 
tory of  Massachusetts.  It  passed  in  1802,  by  will,  to  an  English  mariner, 
who,  living  in  Northumberland  and  knowing  little  about  it,  allowed  the 
property  to  decay,  and  the  island  to  lie  idle.  About  this  time  Mr.  Marsh, 
an  Englishman,  being  attracted  by  its  beauty,  and  perhaps  by  its  fitness  as 
a  home  for  Britannic  insularity,  settled  there  with  his  family,  and  became 
so  attached  to  the  soil  that  he  resolved  upon  owning  it ;  and,  after  many 
an  unsuccessful  search,  at  last  (in  1822)  found  the  proprietor  of  the  island, 
buying  it  of  him  for  $550.  Black  Jack  was  Marsh's  negro  servant,  well 
known  about  the  harbor,  and  at  one  time  much  talked  about  on  account  of 
his  brutal  treatment  by  certain  naval  officers,  who  charged  him  with  helping 
a  sailor  to  desert.  By  the  exertions  of  Samuel  McCleary,  he  was  enabled 
to  recover  heavy  damages  from  his  assailants.  Here  Marsh  lived,  con- 
tented and  happy,  until  the  age  of  sixty-six,  when  he  died  (in  1833),  and  was 
then,  by  his  own  request,  buried  upon  the  western  slope  of  his  beautiful 
island-home.  The  funeral  was  attended  by  many  gentlemen  from  Boston. 
Two  years  later  the  house  was  burned,  leaving  the  island  again  lonely. 

The  island  covers  nearly  ten  acres,  and  belongs  to  Boston,  in  virtue  of 
a  payment  of  $3,750,  made  in  1867.  Aside  from  the  irregular  athletics  and 
ichthyophagous  picnics  of  the  North-street  gladiators,  it  finds  conspicuous 
use  in  the  annals  of  destruction.  Here  many  a  famous  old  ship,  by  lapse 
of  years  and  buffetings  of  alien  seas  grown  decrepit  and  useless,  has  been 
hauled  up  on  the  beach  and  burned,  in  order  to  get  at  the  metal  used  in 
her  construction.  There  is  a  kind  of  pathos  in  the  final  sacrifice  of  these 
trusty  old  vessels,  whose  keels,  no  more  to  plough  the  yielding  waves,  are 
dragged  across  the  muddy  flats,  and  abandoned  to  the  flames.  Dismantled 
and  forsaken,  the  flames  riot  along  the  venerable  hulls,  crackling  through 
the  deserted  cabins,  and  throwing  out  their  wild  banners  from  the  falling 
spars.  At  such  times  the  island  is  wrapped  in  rolling  smoke,  and  glows 
like  Stromboli,  among  the  waves,  while  the  lower  harbor  is  illuminated  by 
a  baleful  light.  In  a  few  hours  nothing  remains  but  the  stock  of  the  junk- 
merchant.  Among  the  victims  of  this  lurid  shore,  burned  at  the  stake  in 
the  name  of  the  copper-market  and  the  iron-trade,  have  been  the  famous 
old  steamships,  James  Adger,  destroyed  in  1858;  the  Baltic,  the  last  of  the 
Collins  line ;  and  the  Ontario,  one  of  the  immense  wooden  steamships  built 
at  Newburyport  for  the  transatlantic  trade. 


A'/XG'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  IOI 


SLong   Eslantr. 

THE   BATTERY.— AN   AZOREAN  COLONY.— JOHN  NELSON.  — WAR  MEMORIES. 

jELL  down  the  harbor  rise  the  picturesque  shores  of 
Long  Island,  a  narrow  strip  of  land,  indented  here  and 
there  around  its  coast,  and  at  either  end  terminating 
abruptly  in  lofty  cliffs.  It  naturally  takes  its  name  from 
its  inordinate  length,  which  is  about  a  mile  and  three- 
quarters,  though  it  appears  much  more.  It  is  but  five 
miles  from  Boston,  and  has  become  familiar  to  all  who 
pass,  by  its  great  white  hotel,  and  still  more  by  the  light-house,  perched 
upon  the  very  tip  of  the  steepest  bluff  in  the  harbor,  eighty  feet  above  high- 
water  mark.  It  bears  a  clear  and  brilliant  fixed  light,  visible  for  fifteen 
miles  at  sea.  The  battery  which  crowns  the  cliff,  presenting  only  a  range 
of  low  green  mounds  to  the  view  of  the  passing  sailor,  is  a  formidable  little 
work,  of  modern  construction,  with  walls  of  great  thickness,  bombproofs, 
and  other  defences,  partly  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  bluff  by  a  deep 
dry  moat.  There  are  no  cannon  here  now;  but  it  would  be  a  matter  of  very 
slight  delay  to  mount  a  line  of  heavy  guns  which  could  deliver  a  for- 
midable plunging  fire  on  the  ship-channel,  and  perfectly  command  the 
approaches  through  Broad  Sound.  The  favor  with  which  this  insular  para- 
dise was  at  first  regarded  faded  out  in  time,  and  by  the  year  1840  there 
remained  but  a  single  farmhouse.  But  when  the  United  States  wanted  to 
buy  Eastern  Head,  for  a  light-house,  the  proprietors  discovered  that  every 
rod  of  the  soil  had  a  great  value  ;  and  the  Government  was  obliged  to  go 
through  a  long  lawsuit,  in  order  to  acquire  the  35  acres  on  the  bluff  without 
emptying  the  Treasury.  The  national  domain  extends  to  the  pond  on  the 
west ;  and  the  weather-beaten  old  houses  near  the  wharf  and  around  this 
side  of  the  hill  were  the  shelters  of  the  workmen  on  the  fort.  The  seaward 
front  of  the  Head  is  defended  by  a  handsome  sea-wall,  whose  construction 
cost  $150,000. 

The  light-house  was  built  in  1819,  and  is  a  round  white  iron  tower, 
attached  to  a  neat  little  house,  which  serves  the  keeper  as  a  home.  On 
two  sides  it  is  surrounded  by  ramparts,  which  rest  upon  the  very  edges  of 
the  steep  cliff,  and,  though  at  present  of  little  service  as  defence,  yet  cer- 
tainly are  picturesque,  being  clad  with  verdure,  and  dotted  all  over  with 
daisies  and  buttercups,  forming  by  their  great  mounds  and  deep  embrasures 


162  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

just  the  most  delightful  place  in  the  world  for  a  merry  game  of  hide-and- 
seek.  It  is  pleasant  to  sit  there,  and  look  off  across  the  Bay,  beyond  all 
land,  until  the  purple  sea  is  lost  in  purple  sky,  watching  the  tiny  yachts 
and  great  ships  coming  in  and  going  out,  and  the  flag-decked  steamers, 
from  whose  decks  distant  music  floats  upward.  Or,  should  one  care  for  a 
less  lofty  view,  at  the  base  of  the  cliff  is  the  most  charming  promenade, 
over  the  top  of  the  massive  wall,  built  lest  the  persistent  sea  should  take  to 
itself  the  very  island.  This  promenade  over  the  works  and  at  the  water's 
edge  is  about  semi-circular,  and,  if  followed  round,  brings  one  to  the  little 
pebbly  beach  and  cove  on  the  east  side  of  the  island. 

Near  this  point  is  a  quaint  little  cluster  of  huts,  inhabited  by  a  colony  of 
olive-skinned  Portuguese  fishermen,  most  of  whom  are  from  the  Azore 
Islands,  and  reproduce  on  this  far-away  sister  of  Fayal  and  San  Miguel  the 
customs  and  sports  of  their  homeland.  Many  a  pretty  little  Azorean  child 
runs  along  the  grassy  slopes  of  the  hills  near  by,  seeking  vainly  for  the 
oranges  and  pine-apples,  the  palms  and  periwinkles,  of  his 

"  Summer  isles  of  Eden  lying  in  dark-purple  spheres  of  sea." 

Along  the  shore  the  boats  are  drawn  up;  and  the  dark  fishermen  loiter 
by  the  water-side,  waiting  for  time  and  tide  to  serve,  and  calling  on  Santo 
Cristo  to  deliver  their  out-bound  dories  from  peril  or  a  barren  cruise.  In 
the  winter  season  most  of  these  people  go  to  the  city,  where  they  can  attend 
divine  service  in  the  Portuguese  Roman-Catholic  Church,  and  assemble  with 
their  comrades  to  dance  to  the  music  of  the  guitar,  or  to  practise  the  worst 
Americanisms  which  they  have  been  doomed  to  observe.  They  may  miss 
the  lofty  peak  of  Pico,  or  the  flowery  delights  of  Ponta  Delgada ;  but  here 
they  can  at  least  have  meat  more  than  once  a  year,  and  earn  more  than  two 
dollars  a  week,  which  is  the  best  their  brethren  at  home  can  do.  They 
have  driven  the  Yankee  fishermen  from  the  field,  because  they  can  live  on  a 
quarter  of  what  our  people  regard  as  essential ;  and  the  New-England  coast 
already  has  many  such  hamlets  of  Portuguese  mariners,  frugal,  industrious, 
and  hardy. 

On  the  little  upland  south  of  the  fishermen's  huts,  and  near  the  head  of 
the  steamboat-wharf,  rises  the  great  white  building  of  the  Long-Island 
House,  on  whose  front  is  the  finest  and  most  luxuriant  grove  in  the  harbor. 
Beyond  and  running  south  the  island  becomes  lonely  and  desolate,  until  it 
finally  ends  at  South  Head,  a  high  bluff  rising  over  the  water,  serene  and 
quiet,  peopled  only  by  the  skimming  swallows,  and  keeping  its  silent  guard 
over  Spectacle  Island,  just  across  a  narrow  reach  of  blue  water.  The  total 
area  of  Long  Island  is  about  216  acres  ;  and  it  is  separated  from  Governor's 
and  Castle  Islands  by  President  Roads,  and  from  Deer  Island,  not  quite  a 
mile  to  the  northward,  by  Broad  Sound.     Around  its  southern  shore  is  the 


KING'S    HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  1IAKFOF 


163 


Western  (or  Hack)  Way,  which  is  much   used   by  coasting-vessels  entering 
or  leaving  the  port. 

'The  rise,  decadence,  and  fall  of  Long  Island  as  a  home  for  men  might 
be  made  an  interesting  theme  by  some  Gibbon  of  the  adjacent  villages. 
Sedition  has  harbored  here;  battle  has  been  waged ;  martial  revels  have  ., 
been  celebrated;  and  love  has  been  made  in  the  old  ways.  The  island  first 
appears  in  history  in  the  year  (1634)  in  which  Wallenstein  was  slain,  at  the 
middle  period  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War ;  when  it  was  granted,  with  Deer 
and  Hog  Islands,  to  Boston,  in  the  halcyon  days  when  "  these  isles 
abounded  with  Woods  and  Water,  and  Meadow-ground, 


Long  Island   Light-House. 


and  whatsoever  the  spacious 
fertile  maine  affords."  Bos- 
ton at  that  time  apportioned  it  to  37  differ- 
ent persons,  who  laid  low  its  beautiful  forests, 
and  stripped  its  cliffs  bare  and  desolate.  In 
1639  it  was  ^a'd  out  in  lots  for  planters,  and 
after  a  time  became  their  own,  on  the  payment 
of  a  yearly  rent  of  sixpence  an  acre,  for  the  benefit  of  the  free  school.  But 
this  agreement  was  not  always  kept ;  and  in  1667  the  town  gave  up  the  island 
to  the  renters,  on  condition  that  the  back  rent  should  be  paid  ;  and  so  it  was, 
not  long  after,  that  Long  Island  passed  firmly  into  private  hands.  A  manu- 
script in  the  Geneva  Library,  in  which  a  French  Huguenot  refugee  describes 
his  visit  to  America  in  16S7,  speaks  of  the  "number  of  very  pretty  islands 
that  lie  in  front  of  Boston,  most  of  them  cultivated  and  inhabited  by  peas- 
ants." The  term  "peasant"  was  misapplied;  for  here  on  Long  Island  was 
the  house  of  John  Nelson,  the  hero  of  Drake's  romance,  whom  the  records 
call  "  a  young  gentleman  of  Boston,  a  near  relation  to  Sir  Thomas  Temple, 
but  an  episcopalian,  and  of  a  gay,  free  temper."     He  it  was  who  headed  the 


164 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


Bostonians  in  their  attack  on  Sir  Edmund  Andros  and  his  troops  at  Fort  Hill 
in  1689.  Such  a  man  would  have  been  at  least  a  chevalier  in  France.  In 
1692  Nelson,  having  been  captured  by  the  French  while  on  a  voyage  to  the 
eastward,  discovered  some  secret  designs  which  were  being  matured'against 
the  New-England  colonies,  and  informed  the  authorities  of  Massachusetts 
from  his  prison  at  Quebec.  For  this  patriotic  act  he  was  sent  to  Paris,  and 
shut  up  in  the  Bastille  for  a  long  time,  obtaining  his  release  through  the 
intervention  of  Sir  Purbeck  Temple.  After  twelve  years  of  absence,  the  gal- 
lant captain  returned  to  his  little  kingdom  of  Long  Island,  where  the  Nelson 
family  gave  a  famous  feast  to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  their  chief.  Frag- 
ments of  the  table-cloth  used  on  this  occasion  (about  the  year  1702)  are  still 
preserved  among  his  descendants. 


Interior  of   Battery,    Long-Island   Head. 


After  Nelson  had  bought  all  but  4^  acres  of  the  island,  he  mortgaged  it 
to  certain  Salem  capitalists,  "  with  all  and  singular  the  houses,  buildings, 
barns,  orchards,  gardens,  pastures,  ffences,  woods,  stones,  beach,  wharffes, 
liberties,  immunities,  hereditaments,  emoluments,"  etc.  From  Nelson's  heirs 
it  passed  to  Charles  Apthorp,  whose  heirs  sold  their  domain,  "  butted  and 
bounded  Northerly,  Southerly,  Easterly,  and  Westerly,  by  the  sea,"  to  Bar- 
low Trecothick,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  who  had  married  Grizzell  Apthorp. 
In  1791  Trecothick's  brother-in-law  sold  it  to  James  I  vers,  whose  heirs  con- 
veyed it  to  Thomas  Smith  of  Cohasset  in  1847;  and  two  years  later  it  was 
vested  in  the  Long-Island  Company,  its  present  owners. 

In  July,  1775,  a  detachment  of  500  Continental  soldiers,  in  65  whale- 
boats,  landed  on  Long  Island,  and  took  off  all  the  sheep  and  cattle  there, 
together  with  17  British  sailors.     They  were  hotly  cannonaded  by  the  men- 


STING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


I65 


of-war  in  the  harbor,  and  chased  to  Squantum  by  an  armed  schooner  and 
barges  crowded  with  blue-jackets  ;  but  got  off  safely  with  their  prizes,  whose 
loss  was  grievously  mourned  by  the  hungry  officers  in  Boston.  Colonel 
Pierce  thus  described  the  affair  in  his  diary:  "Our  people  go  to  Long 
Island,  and  fetch  of  all  the  cretors,  and  took  13  mereens  prisoners." 

Two  years  after  the  port  of  Boston  was  closed,  a  squadron  of  British 
frigates  still  lingered  in  the  roads,  blockading  the  harbor  and  insulting  the 
State.  John  Adams  wrote  from  Philadelphia  to  John  Winthrop,  in  May, 
1776,  "Is  there  no  such  thing  as  getting  upon  Lovell's  Island,  or  George's 
Island,  and  driving  away  the  men-of-war  which  lie  in   Nantasket  Roads? 


'  J^v  .^  V. 


The   Long-Island   House. 


Can  nothing  be  done  at  Hull  or  Point  Alderton  ?  I  am  afraid  you  are  as 
destitute  of  active  and  capable  engineers  as  in  spirited  commanding  offi- 
cers. ...  I  never  shall  be  happy  until  every  unfriendly  flag  is  driven  out  of 
sight,  and  the  Light  House,  George's  and  Lovell's  Islands,  and  the  East  end 
of  Long  Island,  are  secured."  He  advocated  the  construction  of  galleys, 
like  those  of  Turkey  and  Venice,  armed  with  42-pounders ;  and  added,  "A 
kind  of  dodging  Indian  fight  might  be  maintained  among  the  islands  in  our 
harbor,  between  such  galleys  and  the  men-of-war." 

The  efficacious  hint  was  given  in  June,  1776,  when  a  force  of  Continen- 


1 66  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

tals  and  militiamen  occupied  Long  Island,  and  planted  several  heavy  guns 
on  East  Head.  At  the  same  time  another  force  had  taken  position  at  Hull, 
and  upon  a  concerted  signal  the  newly  raised  batteries  opened  hotly  on  the 
hostile  ships.  These,  indeed,  were  not  slow  at  replying;  and  for  a  space 
the  lower  harbor  was  wrapped  in  white  cannon-smoke,  and  its  islands  re- 
verberated with  the  crash  of  opposing  broadsides  and  field-works.  Finally, 
however,  after  several  ships  had  been  hulled,  and  a  destructive  shot  had 
torn  up  the  upper  works  of  the  flagship,  the  fleet  moved  away  to  sea. 

They  should  have  left  a  frigate  off  in  the  bay,  to' warn  incoming  British 
vessels ;  for  several  of  these,  with  rich  cargoes,  sailed  unsuspectingly  into 
captivity  in  this  snug  little  Yankee  harbor.  Even  worse  befell  a  transport 
full  of  Highlanders,  coming  to  re-enforce  the  king's  armies  in  America, 
even  before  the  fleet  had  been  driven  from  Boston.  The  poor  Scots  were 
sorely  assailed  by  two  Yankee  privateers  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  but  hotly 
beat  them  off,  and  sailed  onward  toward  their  desired  port.  But  Capt. 
Tucker's  Marblehead  privateer  and  an  armed  vessel  of  Rhode  Island  took 
up  the  chase,  the  former  running  in  Broad  Sound,  and  the  other  on  the 
east  of  Long  Island.  They  found  the  transport  aground  ;  but  her  guns 
were  served  so  well  that  the  Rhode-Islander  was  driven  behind  the  island, 
and  Tucker's  spars'  were  shattered,  and  his  sails  and  his  pine-tree  flag  were 
riddled.  At  last  the  British  ship  struck  her  colors,  and  her  rich  cargo  of 
military  stores  became  the  spoils  of  the  Americans.  The  commander  and 
36  men  had  been  slain;  and  these  were  buried  on  Long  Island  the  next 
day,  in  a  sad  and  solemn  procession,  preceded  by  the  Scottish  bagpipes, 
wailing  the  coronach,  and  followed  by  the  lamenting  women  who  had  ac- 
companied their  husbands  from  the  North  Country. 

When  the  splendid  new  line-of-battle  ship  Independence  and  the  famous 
frigate  Constitution  were  blockaded  here  in  1S14,  by  a  strong  British  squad- 
ron, the  Massachusetts  authorities  requested  that  they  should  be  moved 
into  the  lower  harbor,  so  that  the  enemy  could  take  them  away  without 
endangering  the  city  by  a  bombardment.  But  stout  old  Commodore  Bain- 
bridge  refused  to  accede,  and  begged  the  State  to  guard  the  bay  for  its  own 
sake;  asserting,  that,  in  case  of  an  attack,  the  naval  people  would  defend 
themselves  with  all  possible  vigor,  and  the  town  could  not  help  receiving 
serious  damage  in  the  engagement.  Among  the  defences  which  he  strongly 
advised  was  a  battery  of  18-pounders  on  Long-Island  Head,  with  a  garrison 
at  Hull ;  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  final  adoption  of  such  precautions 
by  the  State  kept  Boston  from  molestation  during  the  war. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  the  Secession  War,  Long  Island  was  alive 
with  soldiers  ;  the  State  volunteers  making  ready  for  the  field,  or  resting 
here  on  their  return.  The  Ninth  Regiment  lay  in  camp  here  through  May 
and  June,  1861,  and  then  sailed  away  on  transports  to  Washington;    and 


AVNG'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


167 


in  the  chapters  in  the  regimental  history  devoted  to  this  period,  the  follow- 
ing bit  of  description  occurs  :  "  The  island  was,  upon  the  south  side,  thickly 
studded  with  trees;  a  beautiful  verdure  clothed  the  miniature  valleys;  and 
of  a  summer  morning  when  the  sea  was  calm,  and  the  red  glory  of  a  sum- 
mer sunrise  looked  down  upon  the  dotted  camp-ground,  the  scene  was  in- 
expressibly beautiful.  It  was  a  good  thought,  the  selection  of  Long  Island 
for  a  military  rendezvous,  not  only  for  its  sanitary  merits,  but  for  the 
security  it  afforded  against  desertions.  It  boasts  many  fine  parade-grounds, 
walks,  and  lounges,  while  beautiful  views  of  the  sea  and  land  greet  the  eye 
in  every  direction." 

On  April  17, 1861,  the  Third  Massachusetts  Regiment  sailed  down  the  har- 
bor in  a  steam-transport ;  and  on  the  same  day  the  Fourth  Regi- 
ment left  the  city.  Both  <^L*  —  "!^^_  commands  were  from  the 
Old  Colony,  and  went     jS/S^~--    .-.-:■"-'   ^^""^"v.     to  Fortress  Monroe  by 

destroyed  the  navy- 
and     fought     the 
Hampton.       In 
m  e  n  t       was 
and    encamped 
Long    Island, 
mustered     out. 
the  first  North- 
that  marched 
sacred  soil  of 
fought  at  Big 
returned      to 
Long    Island 
Third;  where 
the  boys  had 


sea.      The    Third 

yard   at    Norfolk, 

Virginians    at 

July     the    regi- 

brought     back, 

four    days    on 

before     being 

The  Fourth  was 

ern  regiment 

on    to    "  the 

Virginia."    It 

Bethel,     and 

encamp   on 

with       the 

for  a  few  days 

a  chance  to  rest  in  security,  far  from  rebel  alarms  and  the  hardships  of  the 

field.    The  Long-Island  House  was  the  headquarters  building  in  those  days; 

and  many  a  bright  young  officer  solaced  his  impatience  by  promenading  its 

long  piazzas,  while  awaiting  orders  to  the  fatal  front.    At  the  end  of  the  year 

1863  there  was  a  camp  of  over  1,000  conscripts  on  Long  Island,  and  several 

full  companies  of  heavy  artillery.     The  post  was  under  the  command  of 

Gen.  Devens,  and  the  camps  stood  on  the  slope  between  the  Portuguese 

village  and  the  summit  beyond  the  Long-Island  House.     The  troops  here 

suffered  extremely  from  cold;  and  at  times  it  was  found  necessary  to  relieve 

the  sentries  every  half-hour,  just  as  is  done  in  the  Citadel  of  Quebec  on 

winter  nights.     An  iron  discipline  had  to  be  maintained  here  among  these 

unwilling  soldiers  ;  and  not  a  few  would-be  deserters  were  drowned  in  the 

adjacent  waters,  while  trying  to  gain  the  mainland. 


Portuguese  Village,   en   Long  Island. 


i68 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


Since  the  close  of  the  Rebellion  the  island  has  lain  fallow,  awaiting  new 
changes.  The  great  hotel  has  been  run,  with  varying  success,  by  many 
different  administrations,  and  sometimes  with  a  goodly  number  of  guests, 
who  enjoy  the  pleasant  views  of  the  harbor,  and  the  rustling  groves  in  front 
of  the  house.  The  hopeful  avenues  of  the  land-company  have  as  yet  been 
occupied  by  only  a  feeble  group  of  shabby  cottages ;  and  the  sanguine 
dreamers  who  hoped  to  see  here  a  new  island-ward,  like  East  Boston,  must 
wait  until  the  twentieth  century,  at  least,  before  their  prophecies  are  real- 
ized. As  a  summer  resort  the  locality  suffers  from  its  proximity  to  certain 
unaesthetic  quarters  of  the  town,  whose  adventurous  young  men  find  here 
a  domain  where  the  terror-inspiring  helmets  of  the  city-watch  seldom 
intrude.  In  June,  1882,  a  large  assemblage  of  bruisers  and  plug-uglies 
visited  Long  Island,  with  the  intent  to  have  a  comfortable  prize-fight  there. 
But  the  police-boat,  with  33  stalwart  officers,  made  a  dash  on  the  desecrated 
island,  and  prevented  the  consummation  of  the  affair. 

The  soil  of  the  island  is  reputed  to  be  very  rich ;  but  it  has  been  used 
mainly  for  the  pasturage  of  horses  and  sheep,  great  numbers  of  which 
have  revelled  on  these  fenceless  plains.  Five  or  six  years  ago  there  was 
much  talk  of  converting  the  island  into  a  marine  park,  connected  with  South 
Boston  and  the  North  End  by  city  steamboats,  and  affording  a  place  of 
recreation  for  the  people  of  the  most  densely  crowded  wards.  Somewhat 
later  the  Naval  Committee  discussed  the  feasibility  of  selling  the  United- 
States  Marine  Hospital  at  Chelsea,  and  establishing  a  new  one  on  Long 
Island.  In  1882  there  were  discussions  among  the  city  fathers  as  to  the 
expediency  of  purchasing  the  entire  island,  and  transferring  hither  the 
municipal  charities  and  prisons  at  South  Boston  and  West  Roxbury. 


KING'S    HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  169 


SLobell's  Eslanti   anti   Gallop's   Iislanti. 

THE  LOST  FRIGATE  MAGNIFIQUE.  —  THE  QUARANTINE  HOSPITAL.— 
NIX'S  MATE. 

'EST  of  the  Brewster  archipelago,  and  upwards  of  six 
miles  from  the  Hub  of  the  Universe,  stands  Lovell's 
Island,  separated  from  George's  by  the  main  ship- 
channel,  and  exposed  on  its  northern  side  to  the  full 
force  of  the  Atlantic,  which  was  found  to  encroach  so  greatly  upon  it,  that, 
in  1843,  measures  were  taken  to  build  there  a  costly  and  massive  sea-wall. 
Lovell's  is  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long,  and  about  half  that  distance  in 
width,  and  is  the  flattest  of  the  large  islands  in  the  harbor.  It  was  named, 
probably,  for  Capt.  William  Lovell,  who  lived  in  Dorchester  in  1630;  and 
the  first  mention  of  it  occurs  in  the  Massachusetts  Records  in  1636.  In 
1648  it  was  granted  to  Charlestown,  "  pvided  that  halfe  of  the  timber  and 
fire  wood  shall  belong  to  the  garrison  at  the  Castle."  A  part  of  the  island 
was  also  given  to  James  Brown,  "if  he  set  up  a  stage  and  follow  a  trade 
of  fishing  there."  Again,  in  1654,  it  was  granted  to  Hull ;  but  at  the  pres- 
ent time  belongs  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  is  used 
by  the  Light-House  Board.  A  steep  little  upland  rises  beyond  the  wharf, 
covered  with  long,  fine  grass ;  and  descends  towards  the  north  to  a  long, 
low  point,  reaching  out  into  the  sea,  and  called  Ram's  Head.  This  was 
the  scene,  some  sixty  years  ago,  of  a  dreadful  shipwreck,  when  a  vessel 
from  Maine  struck  upon  the  rocks  at  midnight,  and,  though  all  its  crew 
and  passengers  reached  the  hill-top,  at  morning  not  one  was  found  alive, 
the  cold  being  so  intense  as  to  freeze  them  to  death.  It  was  thus  vividly 
described  by  an  ancient  poet :  — 

"  At  length  they  gain'd  the  sea-beat  strand, 
And  rescued  from  the  waves  ; 
On  Lovell's  Island  only  land, 
To  find  more  decent  graves. 


"  For  ere  the  tempest,  howling  night. 
With  horror  ceas'd  to  roar ; 
Each  soul  had  gone  with  rapid  flight, 
Where  sorrow  springs  no  more. 


170  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

"Among  the  rest,  a  youthful  pair, 
Who,  from  their  early  youth  ; 
Had  felt  of  love  an  equal  share, 
Adorn'd  with  equal  truth, 

"  Lay  prostrate  'mid  the  dire  alarms, 
Had  calm  resign'd  their  breath  ; 
Fast  locked  within  each  other's  arms, 
Together  sunk  to  death." 


The  great  bowlder,  which  is  still  visible  on  the  bluff,  and  has  been  for 
many  decades  the  rendezvous  of  picnic-parties,  became  invested  with  a 
mournful  and  romantic  interest  from  the  events  of  that  terrible  night.  Under 
its  unavailing  shelter  were  found  the  bodies  of  the  young  man  and  woman 
aforesaid,  closely  locked  in  each  other's  arms.  They  were  on  the  eve  of 
being  married,  and  had  sailed  for  Boston,  to  buy  there  the  furniture  of  their 
home.  Sad  fate  was  theirs,  —  to  die  inside  the  harbor,  within  cannon-shot 
of  a  thousand  happy  firesides  ! 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Colony,  many  trees  covered  Lovell's,  and  were 
cut  for  fire-wood.  Upon  its  southern  point  stood,  until  lately,  a  solitary 
tree,  used  for  many  years  as  a  guide  for  the  pilots  of  incoming  vessels. 
The  island  has  been  found  a  good  pasture  for  horses,  and  once  was  overrun 
by  pretty  pink-eyed  rabbits.  On  the  wharf  are  duplicates  of  the  great 
whistling  buoy  off  the  Graves,  and  the  bell-buoy  off  Harding's  Ledge,  be- 
sides an  endless  number  and  variety  of  others,  ready,  in  emergency,  to 
take  the  places  of  those  now  in  different  parts  of  the  Bay.  A  track  runs 
thence  to  Ram's  Head,  over  which  horses  draw  the  great  granite  blocks 
used  on  the  sea-wall  and  breakwater.  This  was  first  built  at  an  expense  of 
$90,000;  but  proved  inadequate,  and  the  necessary  additions  cost  the  Gov- 
ernment some  $40,000  more. 

Between  Lovell's  and  Deer  Island  is  the  channel  of  Broad  Sound,  used 
by  small  vessels  and  steamboats  bound  for  the  eastern  ports,  but  too  shallow 
for  large  ships.  It  is  much  shorter  and  less  intricate  than  the  main  channel, 
but  even  here  the  inevitable  dangers  of  the  sea  have  been  fatally  predomi- 
nant. So  late  as  June,  1858,  the  beautiful  new  schooner  Prairie  Flower, 
with  a  pleasure-party  of  47  Salem  gentlemen  on  board,  was  upset  by  a  squall 
here,  and  seven  of  her  passengers  were  drowned. 

The  ancient  history  of  Lovell's  was  not  recorded,  and  only  here  and  there 
is  a  passing  mention  made  of  it.  Away  back  in  the  year  1645,  the  crew  of 
a  Portuguese  ship  in  the  Roads  stole  some  goats  from  these  islands,  upon 
which  the  Puritan  magistracy  rose  in  wrath,  and  made  a  prize  of  the  unfor- 
nate  vessel.  They  did  not  release  her  until  a  good  round  fine  had  been 
screwed  out  of  the  captain.     During  the  same  year  a  ketch  was  wrecked 


KING'S   I!  A. YD  BOOK'  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


\/l 


upon  the  island;  although,  two  years  before,  the  Boston  pilots  led  La  Tour's 
fleet  safely  out  through  Broad  Sound,  past  the  island,  "  where  no  Ships  of 
such  burden  had  gone  out  before,  or  not  more  than  one."  In  August.  16S5, 
a  ship  came  in  with  small-pox  on  board,  and  was  ordered  by  the  council 
"  to  remove  lower  to  Lovell's  Hand,  and  there  the  Passengers,  Ship,  and 
Goods  between  Decks  to  be  Aired  :  None  to  come  to  Town  till  further 
Order."  In  the  latter  part  of  17S2  Admiral  Vaubaird's  French  fleet  sailed 
into  Boston  Harbor.  The  immense  three-deckers, 
Trin inpJiant  and  La  Couronne,  and  a  dozen  smaller 
frigates,  passed  inward  safely ;  but  the  Magniftque, 
a  stately  line-of-battle  ship,  missed  stays  off  Lovell's 
Island,  and  went  ashore.  There  she  lay  for  many 
years,  a  noble  and  melancholy  wreck,  until 
the  winter  storms  gradually  broke 
pieces,  or  buried  her  under  the 
of  the  sea.  The  ship-of-the-line 
ica  was  then  being  built  at  Ports- 
uth,    and    Congress    gave   her   to 


the  French 
Govern- 
ment,    to     recom- 
pense    it    for    the 
lost     Magniftque.         The 
Boston  pilot  whose  care- 
lessness  caused  her  loss  became  sexton  of  the  New  North  Church  ;    and 
the  parish  lads  annoyed  him  by  chalking  on  the  meeting-house  door, — 

"  Don't  you  run  this  ship  ashore 
As  you  did  the  seventy-four." 


The  treasure-seekers  have  made  many  an  attempt  to  secure  the  riches 
which  they  fancy  went  down  with  the  Magniftque.  About  the  year  1840 
they  found  pieces  of  the  very  beautiful  wood  of  which  she  was  built ; 
and  in  1859  Iarge  quantities  of  lead,  copper,  and  cannon-balls  were  found. 
Ten  years  later  the  United-States  engineers  who  were  widening  the  channel 
brought  up  many  oaken  timbers  of  the  old  French  frigate,  more  than  twenty 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  place  where  she  struck,  on  Man- 
of-War  Bar,  is  now  solid  land,  above  the  sweep  of  high  tides. 


172  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

About  six  miles  from  Boston,  and  between  the  main  channel  and  Nan- 
tasket  Roads,  rises  the  high  bluff  of  Gallop's  Island,  whose  Revolutionary 
fortifications  have  been  replaced  by  a  dainty  summer-house,  perked  jauntily 
\over  the  channel.  Below  is  the  great  sea-wall,  built  since  1S68  by  the 
United-States  engineers.  From  this  bluff  the  strange  gravelly  ridge  of 
Beachy  Point  stretches  many  rods  to  the  eastward  along  the  channel,  almost 
submerged  at  high  tide,  but  bold  and  conspicuous  enough  when  the  ebb 
tide  has  lowered  the  channel. 

The  first  owner  of  the  island,  long  before  1650,  was  Capt.  John__Gallop, 
then  the  best  pilot  in  the  Bay,  who  had  here  a  snug  farm,  with  a  meadow 
on  Long  Island,  a  sheep-pasture  on  Nix's  Mate,  and  a  house  in  Boston. 
He  achieved  great  distinction  by  piloting  in  the  ship  Griffin  through  a  new- 
found channel,  when  she  had  on  board  200  passengers,  including  the  Rev. 
John  Cotton,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  and  other  fathers  of  New  England. 
Shurtleff  thinks  that  this  channel  was  the  Black-Rock  Passage  ;  and  Sav- 
age prefers  to  consider  it  the  channel  leading  from  the  north,  between  Lov- 
ell's  and  the  Great  Brewster.  Gallop  was  also  distinguished  for  a  naval 
exploit  off  Block  Island,  where  he  attacked  a  party  of  Indians  in  possession 
of  the  shallop  of  John  Oldham  (formerly  of  Hull),  slaying  several  of  the 
savages,  and  recovering  the  body  of  his  murdered  friend.  When  the  old 
pilot  died,  in  1650,  he  valued  the  island  at  ^12,  and  estimated  its  area  at 
16  acres. 

The  richness  of  the  soil  made  this  a  favorite  location  for  successive 
generations  of  farmers.  Even  now  it  produces  about  seven  hundred 
bushels  of  vegetables  yearly,  and  ten  tons  of  hay  ;  and  its  dairy  yields  milk 
and  butter  enough  for  the  local  demand.  In  old  times  the  farmers  here 
supplied  the  ships  in  Nantasket  Roads  with  vegetables  and  milk  and  pure 
spring  water ;  and  many  parties  of  summer  voyagers  used  to  visit  these 
fertile  shores,  and  enjoy  the  quaint  hospitalities  of  the  Snow  place. 

Gallop's  was  long  owned  by  gentlemen  of  Ouincy  and  Hingham,  and 
passed,  in  181 9,  into  the  possession  of  Peter  Newcomb,  who  dwelt  here  for 
many  years.  It  was  purchased  from  his  son  by  the  city  of  Boston  in  i860, 
for  $6,600,  and  loaned  to  the  United  States  for  a  camp-ground.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  Secession  War  there  were  long  lines  of  barracks  on  the 
island,  where  at  times  3,000  recruits  were  quartered,  many  of  them  being 
professional  bounty-jumpers,  with  $1,500  to  $2,000  in  each  man's  pocket. 
All  manner  of  employments  were  assigned  to  these  soldiers,  to  keep  them 
from  mischievous  idleness ;  but  the  sutler  was  the  busiest  man  on  the 
island,  and  the  happiest.  During  the  winter  the  recruits  suffered  terribly 
from  the  cold.  The  island  was  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Hendrickson, 
and  had  a  church  and  a  library.  Here  the  Thirty-eighth  Massachusetts 
Regiment  was  quartered,  on  returning  from  the  wars,  in  1865.     They  were 


KING  'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


173 


veterans  of  the  Louisiana  campaigns,  and  the  later  battles  in  the  Carolinas  ; 
and,  as  their  steamer  approached  the  harbor,  one  of  their  number  wrote  : 
"  The  luxuriant  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  or  the  historical  ones  of  the 
Potomac,  had  no  charms  compared  with  the  dwarfed  shrubbery  of  Cohasset, 
of  Scituate,  of  Marshfield,  and  of  Plymouth."  Here  also  the  Second  .Mas- 
sachusetts Heavy  Artillery  and  the  Fifty-fourth  (colored)  and  Sixty-first 
Infantry  Regiments  were  encamped. 

Since  1S67  the  island  has  been  used  as  a  quarantine  hospital,  for  in- 
fectious diseases,  —  the  Quarantine  Grounds  lying  between  Gallop's  and 
Deer  Islands.     Between  iS66and  1881  there  were  765  persons  placed  here. 


/ 


The  Port  Physician   boardin 
Ship. 


Inbound 


afflicted  with  danger- 
ous contagious  diseases,  of 
whom  221  died.  Most  of 
these  had  small-pox  or  yellow-fever. 
There  are  on  the  island  two  hospitals, 
a  dwelling,  and  other  buildings,  all  of  which 
belong  to  the  city  of  Boston.  The  appear- 
ance of  the  place  is  cheerful  and  bright,  in 
spite  of  its  mournful  destination ;  and,  if  any  thing  could  revive  the  poor 
sailors  whose  veins  have  been  filled  with  fatal  poison  on  the  far  Spanish 
Main,  it  would  be  the  tender  care  and  pure  sweet  air  which  awaits  them 
on  this  cool  northern  islet.  But  the  rec£axL_Qf  deaths  shows  that  nothing 
avails  to  save,  in  many  cases;  and  the  yearly  enlarging  cemetery  on  the 
island  bears  witness  that_poor  Jack  finds  here  his  last  snug  harbor,  his  long 
repose  from  a  life  of  unutterable  toil  and  hardship. 

^/Nix's  Mate  is  a  large,  gravelly  shoal  between  Long  Island  and  Gallop's 
island,  partly  bare  at  low  tide,  and  crowned  by  a  singular  and  ominous-look- 
ing beacon,  now  perhaps  eighty  years  old.  It  is  a  massive  piece  of  copper- 
riveted  masonry,  40  feet  square  and  12  feet  high  (with  stairs  on  one  side), 
upon  whose  top  stands  a  black  wooden  pyramid,  20  feet  high.     As  early  as 


174  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

1636  this  locality  was  known  as  Nixes  Island,  when  it  was  granted  to  John 
Gallop;  and  at  a  later  day  it  divided  with  Bird  Island  the  dishonor  of  being 
the  place  of  execution  for  pirates,  where  the  bones  of  these  luckless  sea- 
dogs  were  exposed  in  chains  and  on  gibbets.  Murderers  and  burglars  were 
executed  on  the  Common,  or  down  on  Boston  Neck;  but  the  people  whose 
crimes  were  perpetrated  on  the  ocean  suffered  the  penalties  of  the  law  in 
sight  of  its  accusing  waters. 

The  usual  form  of  the  popular  legend  of  this  locality  states  that  Capt. 
Nix  was  killed  at  sea,  and  that  his  mate  was  charged  with  the  crime,  and 
executed  on  this  island,  protesting  his  innocence,  and  prophesying  that  the 
place  which  witnessed  his  judicial  murder  would  be  washed  away  by  the 
angry  sea.    This  is  certainly  not  historical,  for  the  present  name  was  applied 


Nix's   Mate   Island,   in   1700. 

to  the  place  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  at  a  time  when  no  man  had 
yet  been  executed  in  Massachusetts  for  murder  or  piracy.  Another  form 
of  the  legend  states  that  Nix  was  a  freebooter,  who  sailed  into  Boston  in 
16S0,  his  ship  well  laden  with  treasures  ravished  from  unarmed  ships.  An- 
choring down  the  harbor,  he  and  his  mate  went  ashore  on  the  island,  on  a 
dark  night,  and  buried  several  bags  of  coin ;  after  which,  to  keep  the  secret 
as  close  as  possible,  Nix  murdered  his  companion,  and  buried  him  also. 
The  continuation  of  the  story  is  crowded  with  ghastly  circumstances. 

There  are  enough  cases  of  this  kind  recorded  in  the  sober  annals  of  the 
colony,  without  need  of  invoking  tradition.  For  upwards  of  a  century 
Massachusetts  Bay  was  infested  with  freebooters,  who  plundered  passing 
vessels  at  will,  and  were  sure  of  a  short  shrift  and  stern  retribution  when 
caught.  So  annoying  were  these  scourges  of  the  coast,  that  even  Win- 
throp's  Blessing  of  the  Bay,  the  first  vessel  built  in  the  colony,  was  armed 
and  sent  out  as  a  cruiser  against  them.     In  1689  Tom   Pound  and  his  ma- 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK'  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


175 


rauding  ship  were  captured  by  the  Boston  vessel  Mary,  after  a  fight,  in 
which  the  commander  of  the  latter  was  mortally  wounded.  Pound  was  exe- 
cuted, his  indictment  charging  that  he,  "being  under  a  red  flag  at  the  head 
of  the  mast,  purposely  and  in  defiance  of  their  Majesties'  authority,  had 
wilfully  and  with  malice  aforethought  committed  murder  and  piracy  upon 
the  high  seas,  being  instigated  thereunto  by  the  Devil."  About  the  same 
time  Thomas  Hawkins, 
a  young  man  from  one  of 
the  best  Massachusetts 
families,  was  executed  for 
the  same  crime,  with  nine 
of  his  comrades.  Fifteen 
years  later  John  Ouelch 
and  five  of  his  men  were 
brought  up  the  Bay,  con- 
demned as  pirates,  escort- 
ed by  40  musketeers  and 
two  ministers  to  Bird  Isl- 
and, and  there  executed. 
The  News  -  Letter  said 
that  "  notwithstanding  all 
the  great  labour  and  pains 
taken  by  the  Reverend 
Ministers  of  the  Town 
of  Boston,  ever  since  they 
were  first  Seized  and 
brought  to  Town,  both 
before  and  since  their 
Trial  and  Condemnation, 
to  instruct,  admonish, 
preach,  and  pray  for 
them ;  yet  as  they  led  a 
wicked  and  vitious  life,  so  Nix's  Mate, 

to  appearance  they  dyed 

very  obdurately  and  impenitently,  hardened  in  their  sin.  His  Excellency 
intends  to  send  an  Express  to  England,  with  an  Account  of  the  whole 
matter  to  Her  Majesty." 

In  1717  Captain  Bellamy  cruised  in  the  Bay  with  the  formidable  pirate- 
ship  Whidah,  of  23  guns.  She  was  finally  decoyed  on  to  Wellfleet  bar,  and 
102  of  her  crew  were  drowned.  For  a  hundred  years  parts  of  this  vessel 
frequently  became  visible  at  low  tide,  and  coins  from  time  to  time  washed 
ashore  near  by.     Six  of  the  crew,  previously  detached  into  a  prize,  were 


176  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

taken,  and  executed  at  Boston.  Well  into  the  eighteenth  century  the  Brit- 
ish war-vessel  Sea-Horse  was  stationed  here  for  years  to  repress  piracy;  and 
many  a  long  cruise  did  she  make  against  their  haunts.  In  1724  John  Phil- 
lips was  the  most  notorious  sea-robber  in  these  waters ;  but,  having  im- 
pressed some  unwilling  young  men  into  his  service,  they  revolted,  on  good 
opportunity,  killed  their  chief,  and  carried  the  vessel  into  Boston,  where 
certain  impenitent  men  of  the  crew  were  hung  in  gibbets  on  Bird  Island, 
on  whose  gloomy  shores  many  a  jolly  Jack  the  Rover  had  preceded  them. 

A  famous  sufferer  on  Nix's  Mate  was  William  Fly,  who  headed  the  crew 
of  the  Elizabeth  in  a  mutiny,  while  on  a  voyage  from  Jamaica  to  Guinea, 
and  threw  overboard  the  captain  and  mate.  Afterwards  they  changed  the 
name  of  their  vessel  to  Fame's  Revenge,  and  embarked  on  a  piratical  cruise 
along  the  American  coast.  But  their  prisoners  rose  upon  them,  placed  Fly 
and  three  of  his  men  in  irons,  and  ran  the  Fame's  Revenge  into  Boston, 
where  the  unfortunate  buccaneers  were  executed.  Fly  was  hung  in  irons, 
on  Nix's  Mate,  over  the  graves  of  his  confederates ;  and  here  his  bones 
shook  and  rattled  in  the  sea-air  for  many  months,  as  a  grim  warning  to  all 
mariners.  The  Boston  News-Letter  reported  that  Fly  "  advised  Masters  of 
Vessels  not  to  be  Severe  and  Barbarous  to  their  Men,  which  might  be  a 
reason  why  so  many  turn'd  Pirates ;  the  other  Two  seem'd  Penitent,  beg'd 
that  others  might  be  warned  by  'em." 

The  Boston  merchantmen  of  those  days  were  hard  fellows  to  tackle.  In 
1748  Colonel  Ouincy's  ship  Bethell,  20  guns,  bound  for  the  Mediterranean, 
encountered  a  Spanish  treasure-ship,  which  surrendered  directly,  fancying 
that  its  antagonist  was  an  English  sloop-of-war.  The  bold  Captain  Freeman 
had  doubled  his  crew  by  dressing  up  dummies  and  handspikes  with  extra 
coats  and  hats.  The  Bethell  and  her  prize  sailed  up  Boston  Harbor  in  tri- 
umph, and  161  chests  of  silver  and  2  chests  of  gold  were  removed  from  the 
latter  to  Colonel  Ouincy's  house.  When  such  well-armed  merchantmen  fell 
into  the  hands  of  their  mutinous  crews,  they  became  formidable  scourges 
to  commerce.  As  late  as  the  year  1772,  there  are  notices  of  pirates  on  the 
coast ;  and  Col.  Pierce's  diary  in  that  year  says,  "  Nov.  22.  The  Pirates 
take  a  scooner  and  killed  the  hands." 

A  writer  in  the  "Memorial  History  of  Boston"  resents  Lord  Macaulay's 
charge  that  there  were  many  "old  buccaneers  living  in  comfort  and  credit  at 
New  York  and  Boston."  But  there  were  certainly  many  queer  maritime 
characters  in  the  little  colony,  such  as  those  of  whom  Lowell  speaks,  "  Re- 
tired sea-captains  (true  brothers  of  Chaucer's  Ship-man),  whose  exploits  had 
kindled  the  imagination  of  Burke,  added  a  not  unpleasant  savor  of  salt  to 
society.  They  belonged  to  the  old  school  of  Gilbert,  Hawkins,  Frobisher, 
and  Drake,  parcel-soldiers  all  of  them,  who  had  commanded  armed  ships, 
and  had  tales  to  tell  of  gallant  fights  with  privateers  or  pirates,  truest  repre- 


AV/VY;\9  7/AAUWOOA'  of  boston  harbor. 


177 


sentatives  of  those   Vikings,   who,  if  trade   in  lumber  or  peltry   was   dull, 
would    make    themselves    Dukes    of    Dublin    or 
Karls  of  Orkney." 

Among    the   wild    rovers   of   those   days   was 
Captain  Cromwell,  a  poor  vagabond  of  a  common 
sailor  about  Boston  in  1636;  but  ten  years  later, 
under  a  dubious  license  from   Lord  Warwick,  he 
captured  a  fleet  of  Spanish  ships,  and  brought 
the  whole  array  into  Plymouth,  and  then  to  Bos- 
ton, where  honest  old  Bradford  averred  that  "he 
scattered  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  yet  more 
sin,   I   fear."     He  slew  one   of  his  men  in  the 
street    with    a    rapier-thrust ;    presented    a    rich 
sedan-chair    to    Governor    Win- 
throp  ;  and  then  fared  away  on  a 
three-years'  cruise,   in  which   he 
captured  many  prizes.     Then  he  * 

returned,  to  become  a  solid  man 
of  Boston,  and  presented  to  the 
town  six  great  bells,  doubtless 
originally  intended  for  some  Span- 
ish-American convent.  Between 
these  fearless  sea-kings  and  the 
freebooters  whose  bones  rattled 
above  Nix's  Mate  there  was  a 
world-wide  difference,  to  be  sure. 
Captain  Kidd  had  been  brought 
into  Boston,  a  captive,  and  sent 
thence  to  London,  to  be  put  to 
death;  but  the  fame  of  his  ex- 
ploits and  gains  led  many  an 
honest  sailor  astray,  and  led  him 
to  a  dreary  death  on  this  surf- 
beaten  shore. 

A  hundred  years  ago  the  isl- 
and was  large  enough  to  be  used 
for  pasturing  sheep,  and  its  chief 
bluff  bore  the  name  of  North- 
End  Point.  It  is  certainly  a 
strange  coincidence  that  Nix's 
and  Bird,  the  two  gibbet-bearers, 
are  the  only  islands  in  the  harbor  to  be  washed  away  and  blotted  out,  as  if 


i78 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


kindly  Nature  refused  to  endure  their  presence.  A  curving  shoal  runs  half 
a  mile  south-westward  from  the  Nix's  Mate  beacon,  and  would  be  the  most 
dangerous  point  in  the  Bay,  were  it  not  for  the  high  black  pyramid. 

The  beacon  was  erected  under  the  auspices,  and  at  the  suggestion,  of 
the  Boston  Marine  Society,  and  formed  the  theme  of  many  communications 
between  that  organization  and  the  National  Government.  One  of  our  cuts 
shows  the  island  as  it  appeared  many  years  ago,  before  the  last  of  the 
aborigines  had  vanished  from  the  scene.  The  approximate  date  when  the 
last  Massachusee  canoe  disappeared  cannot  be  found;  but  in  1853  Edward 
Everett  narrated  the  following  incident,  which  is  at  least  ben  trovato  : 
"A  few  days  ago,  as  I  saw  in  the  newspapers,  two  light  birch-bark  canoes 
appeared  in  Boston  Harbor,  containing  each  a  solitary  Indian.  They 
seemed  as  they  approached  to  gaze  in  silent  wonder  at  the  city  of  the 
triple  hills,  rising  street  above  street,  and  crowned  with  the  dome  of 
the  State  House,  and  at  the  long  line  of  villas  stretching  far  into  the 
background ;  at  the  numerous  tall  vessels  outward  bound,  as  they  dropped 
down  the  channel,  and  spread  their  broad  wings  to  the  breeze,  and  those 
which  were  returning  weather-beaten  from  the  ends  of  the  earth ;  at  the 
steamers  dashing  in  every  direction  across  the  harbor,  breathing  volumes 
of  smoke  from  their  fiery  lungs.  They  paddled  their  frail  barks  with 
dexterity  and  speed  through  this  strange,  busy,  and  to  them,  no  doubt, 
bewildering  scene ;  and  having  made  the  circuit  of  East  Boston,  the  Navy 
Yard,  the  city  itself,  and  South  Boston,  dropped  down  with  the  current,  and 
disappeared  among  the  islands." 


__      > 
iV  -  V,  ', 


*^J^£rip"? 


The   Port  Physician  going  out. 


A'JJVC'S  HAJVDIiOOK  OF  BOSTON  JI ARBOR.  1 79 


foainsfortr   Eglantr. 

THE  ANTINOMIAN    ELDER.  — AN   ANCIENT  SUMMER  RESORT.  — THE  BOSTON 

ALMSHOUSE. 

EVEN  miles  from  town,  and  half  a  mile  from  Long  Island, 
the  pleasant  little  island  of  Rainsford  rises  from  the  har- 
bor, near  the  entrance  of  the  Western  Way,  with  hardly 
mi,  a  dozen  acres  of  soil,  drawn  out  for  half  a  mile,  and  in- 
dented with  many  a  pretty  cove  and  miniature  bay.  Its 
two  bluffs  are  connected  by  a  low  and  narrow  isthmus, 
from  which  the  all-devouring  sea  receives  continuous  repulses,  along  the 
line  of  the  sea-wall.  Its  first  white  resident  appears  to  have  been  Elder 
Edward  Raynsford,  to  whom  the  island  was  probably  granted  in  1636,  at 
the  request  of  Owen  Rowe,  of  London,  who  wrote  to  Governor  Winthrop, 
asking  that  "  Mr  Ransford  may  be  accommodated  with  lands  for  a  farme, 
to  Keepe  my  cattle,  that  so  my  stocke  may  be  preserved."  He  was  the 
first  ruling  elder  of  the  Old  South  Church,  a  large  landholder  on  Long 
Island,  and  one  of  the  substantial  men  of  the  Colony.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  he  came  from  a  very  good  English  family,  and  that  his  brother,  Sir 
Richard  Rainsford,  succeeded  Sir  Matthew  Hale  as  Lord  Chief  Justice  of 
the  King's  Bench.  Nevertheless,  the  colonial  authorities  disarmed  him,  in 
1637,  for  heresy.  (What  mountains  of  revolvers  and  brooms  would  fill  the 
State  House,  if  that  dereliction  were  similarly  punished  to-day !)  Yet, 
though  a  heretic,  and  possibly  even  an  Antinomian,  it  is  said  that  the  good 
elder  bought  his  little  domain  of  its  Indian  lords,  preferring  a  just  title  to 
one  founded  on  the  right  of  might.  Here  he  lived  during  many  years,  with 
his  wife  and  children,  until  1680,  when  he  died;  and  eight  years  later  his 
wife  was  buried  in  King's  Chapel  Burying-Ground.  After  her  death  the 
island-property  was  divided,  passing  through  many  hands,  until,  in  1737, 
Boston  bought  it,  of  the  Lorings  of  Hull,  for  ,£570,  "to  be  used  and  im- 
proved for  a  publick  hospital  for  the  reception  and  accommodation  of  such 
sick  and  infectious  persons  as  shall  be  sent  there  by  order."  A  hospital 
was  erected,  having  four  rooms  on  a  floor,  and  a  proper  person  put  in  charge. 
Until  1852  Rainsford's  Island  was  used  as  a  quarantine. 

As  early  as  1677,  just  after  the  close  of  King  Philip's  War,  a  vessel  was 
quarantined  in  Nantasket  Roads,  with  the  small-pox;  but  sundry  people 
from  the  villages  about  the  harbor  boarded  her,  and  the  dread  infection  was 
soon  let  loose  in   Massachusetts,  nearly  a  thousand  persons  falling  victims. 


l80  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

This  grim  lesson  taught  the  Colony  people  the  need  of  stricter  quarantine 
regulations ;  and,  after  several  attempts  elsewhere,  they  established  their 
lazaretto  on  this  sequestered  islet.  It  appears  to  have  been  under  the  joint 
control  of  Boston  and  Massachusetts ;  and  the  keepers  of  the  Light-house 
and  the  commanders  of  the  Castle  had  orders  to  send  there  all  vessels  in 
which  contagious  diseases  were  found. 

Occasionally  junketing-parties  visited  the  island,  even  in  those  ancient 
days,  on  a  variety  of  pretexts.  Ezekiel  Price  tells  us,  in  his  diary,  that,  on 
Sept.  2,  1778,  he  went  down  the  harbor  to  Hospital  Island,  with  the  select- 
men and  other  Boston  gentlemen,  and  "had  a  view  of  the  French  fleet  then 
in  the  harbour,  as  well  as  those  stationed  in  Nantasket  Harbour;  they 
made  a  very  formidable  appearance,  and  were  disposed  so  as  to  protect  us 
from  any  approach  of  the  British  Navy." 

Nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  the  sweet  singer  of  the  harbor 
thus  apostrophized  "  Rainsford's  pleasant  little  isle  :  "  — 

"  The  sailor  here  when  dire  disease 
His  body  has  opprest ; 
May  lie  upon  the  bed  of  ease, 
With  kind  attentions  blest. 

"  Here  Welch,  the  son  of  healing  art, 
Will  due  prescriptions  give; 
And  use  each  mean  to  soothe  the  heart, 
And  make  the  suff'rer  live. 

"  Here  sprightly  youth  may  exercise, 
Upon  the  bowling  green  ; 
When  no  rude  storms  deform  the  skies, 
And  nature  shines  serene. 

"  Long  may  the  legislative  care, 
Thy  kind  protection  be  ; 
And  long  may  Mercy's  hand  prepare, 
Her  dwelling-place  in  thee." 

On  Great  Head  stands  the  Old  Mansion  House,  built  in  1819,  which 
was  for  many  years  the  chief  summer  resort  in  the  harbor,  and  has  given 
comfortable  shelter  to  many  well-known  Bostonians  of  the  old  regime. 
The  town  authorities  allowed  the  keepers  to  take  boarders,  when  no  infec- 
tious diseases  were  upon  the  island ;  and  the  fever  and  small-pox  hospitals 
were  often  crowded,  besides  the  old  mansion.  It  must  have  been  a  grew- 
some  summer-resort,  and  abounding  in  suggestions  not  conducive  to  hilarity ; 
yet  our  grandfathers  appear  to  have  found  real  and  lively  pleasure  here. 
The  North  Bluff  (or  Great  Head)  also  has  the  superintendent's  house,  the 


AVjVG'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  //ARBOR. 


181 


old  dead-house,  and  several  other  buildings,  besides  the  wharf  at  which 
the  city  steamboat  touches.  These  houses  are  now  mainly  used  for  pauper 
women.  The  West  Head  is  that  part  of  the  island  west  of  the  narrow 
isthmus,  and  is  devoted  to  pauper  men.  Here  is  the  long,  low  building 
erected  for  the  Fever  Hospital,  and  generally  known  as  the  Bowling  Alleys. 
The  imposing  Greek  temple  on  high  ground  beyond  was  the  Small-Pox 
Hospital,  and  not  (as  its  appearance  indicates)  the  shrine  of  the  tutelar 
divinity  of  the  harbor.  It  is  a  stone  building,  and  dates  from  1832.  Near 
by  is  a  high  promontory  of  slate  projecting  to  the  southward  into  the  har- 
bor, and  sheltering  two  pretty  coves.     The  graveyard  is  on  West  Head,  and 


Rainsford   Island. 


has  monuments  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  old,  many  of  which  bear  pathetic 
records.  Here  are  buried  most  of  the  old  keepers  of  the  island,  and  many 
sailors  and  officers  of  foreign  ships,  who  have  ended  their  voyages  here. 
Up  to  a  date  well  within  the  present  century,  it  was  the  custom  for  Boston 
families  to  send  their  members,  when  taken  with  dangerous  infectious  die*- 
eases,  to  the  island,  whence  they  were  tolerably  certain  never  to  return. 
Numbers  of  these  unfortunates  rest  in  the  local  cemetery.  Although  within 
sight  of  the  spires  of  their  home-town,  they  were  rigidly  isolated  on  this 
dreary  strand,  and  allowed  to  drift  down  into  the  darkness  of  death  without 
the  comfort  and  support  of  their  neighboring  friends  and  relatives.  Many 
years  ago  a  remarkable  stone  tomb  was  discovered  here,  containing  a  skele- 
ton and  an  iron  sword-hilt.  Dr.  J.  V.  C.  Smith,  who,  as  Port  Physician, 
spent  many  years  on  the  island,  wrote  a  fanciful  account  of  this  grim  treas- 
ure-trove, suggesting  a  strange  history. 


182 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


In  1852  the  State  took  possession  of  Rainsford,  for  a  pauper  colony,  and 
spent  about  $100,000  in  buildings  and  improvements.  The  State  institution 
was  broken  up  in  1866,  and  its  inmates  went  to  the  inland  almshouses. 

In  1872  Boston  bought  the  island  and  all  its  buildings,  for  $40,000,  and 
the  large  hospital  was  converted  into  a  city  almshouse.  Up  to  the  year 
1882  a  number  of  ex-soldiers,  Massachusetts  veterans  of  the  Secession 
War,  were  kept  here,  living  on  the  cold  bread  of  municipal  charity.  At  that 
time  they  were  transferred  to  the  new  Soldiers'  Home,  on  Powder-Horn 
Hill,  Chelsea,  where  they  can  pass  their  broken  old  age  in  honor  and  peace, 
and  free  from  the  taint  of  pauperism. 

In  the  good  time  coming,  when  chronic  poverty  shall  have  become  a 
matter  only  of  tradition,  this  beautiful  and  picturesque  little  gem  of  the  sea, 
with  its  rocky  shores  and  snug  coves,  and  its  noble  view  out  on  the  Atlantic, 
may  become  once  more  an  abode  of  summer  pleasure,  resorted  to  by  the 
elegant  patrician  descendants  of  the  plain  shopkeepers  who  used  to  weather 
the  dog-days  in  the  Small-Pox  Hospital  forty  years  ago. 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  DA  A' BO  A'.  1 83 


knock's  Manti   anti  its  Eragetig. 

GRAPE   AND   SLATE   ISLANDS.  —  NUT   ISLAND   AND   ITS  ARTILLERY.  — 
HANGMAN'S  ISLAND. 

[HE  most  conspicuous  object  in  the  view  from  the  west  end  of  Hull 
is  the  quiet  and  peaceful  Peddock's  Island,  where,  between  two 
bold  grassy  bluffs,  several  snug  houses  are  seen,  clearly  outlined 
against  a  background  of  dark-green  orchards.  Here  dwell  the 
Cleverlys,  who,  father  and  son,  have  piloted  vessels  into  Wey- 
mouth and  Ouincy  for  half  a  century.  From  their  sitting-room  windows  they 
look  down  Nantasket  Roads  and  seaward,  and  watch  their  vessels  coming 
in.  From  the  East  Head  a  magnificent  view  is  gained  over  the  lower  har- 
bor, and  down  on  to  Fort  Warren,  only  a  mile  away.  This  fine  hill  is  sepa- 
rated from  Windmill  Point  and  the  Hotel  Pemberton  by  the  narrow  and 
rushing  strait  of  Hull  Gut,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide.  Thence  the  island 
rambles  away  to  the  south-west,  hill  and  dale  and  isthmus,  with  four  miles 
of  coast-line,  to  within  less  than  a  mile  of  the  shores  of  Ouincy.  The 
semi-insulated  bluff  of  Prince's  Head  long  supported  the  ponderous  iron- 
clad targets  upon  which  Norman  Wiard's  great  guns  played  from  Nut 
Island,  their  hurtling  missiles  tearing  and  piercing  the  iron  plates  as  if  they 
had  been  pine  planks. 

Not  one  in  ten  thousand  of  the  happy  summer  idlers  who  sail  by  Ped- 
dock's know  that  it  was  once  the  scene  of  a  tragedy  of  terrible  results,  which 
were  thus  recorded  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago:  "It  fortuned,  some 
few  yeares,  before  the  English  came  to  inhabit  at  new  Plimmouth  in  New 
England ;  that  upon  some  distaste  given  in  the  Massachusetts  bay,  by 
Frenchmen,  then  trading  there  with  the  Natives  for  beaver,  they  set  upon 
the  men,  at  such  advantage,  that  they  killed  manie  of  them,  burned  their 
shipp,  then  riding  at  Anchor  by  an  Island  there,  now  called  Peddocks 
Island  in  memory  of  Leonard  Peddock  that  landed  there  (where  many 
wilde  Auckies  haunted  that  time  which  hee  thought  had  bin  tame),  distrib- 
uting them  unto  5  Sachems  which  were  Lords  of  the  severall  territories 
adjoyninge.  They  did  keep  them  so  longe  as  they  lived,  onely  to  sport 
themselves  at  them,  and  made  these  five  Frenchmen  fetch  them  wood  and 
water,  which  is  the  generall  worke  that  they  require  of  a  servant.  One  of 
these  five  men  out  livinge  the  rest  had  learned  so  much  of  their  language,  as 
to  rebuke  them  for  their  bloudy  deeds,  saying  that  God  would  be  angry  with 
them  for  it;  and  that  hee  would  in  his  displeasure  destroy  them:  but  the 


184  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

Salvages  (it  seems  boasting  of  their  strength,)  replyed  and  say'd,  that  they 
were  so  many,  that  God  could  not  kill  them.  But  contrary  wise  in  short 
time  after,  the  hand  of  God  fell  heavily  upon  them,  with  such  a  mortall 
stroake,  that  they  died  on  heapes,  as  they  lay  in  their  houses  ;  and  the  liv- 
ing that  were  able  to  shift  for  themselves  would  runne  away,  &  let  them 
dy,  and  let  there  Carkases  ly  above  the  ground  without  buriall.  For  in  a 
place  where  many  inhabited,  there  hath  been  but  one  left  alive,  to  tell  what 
became  of  the  rest,  the  livinge  being  (as  it  seems)  not  able  to  bury  the  dead, 
they  were  left  for  Crowes,  Kites,  and  vermin  to  pray  upon.  And  the  bones 
and  skulls  upon  the  severall  places  of  their  habitations,  made  such  a  spec- 
tacle after  my  comming  into  those  partes,  that  as  I  travailed  in  that  Forrest, 
nere  the  Massachussets,  it  seemed  to  mee  a  new-found  Golgatha." 

In  these  words  does  Morton,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  narrate  the 
tragedy  of  Peddock*s  Island,  and  the  Divine  wrath  which,  as  the  savages 
believed,  came  upon  the  red  tribes.  The  auckies  spoken  of  were  probably 
great  auks,  a  strange  penguin-like  bird,  which  Dr.  Elliott  Coues  says  was 
once  common  on  these  shores,  but  cannot  now  be  found  south  of  Labra- 
dor. Somewhat  later,  Morton  received  a  more  circumstantial  account  of 
the  massacre  of  the  French  sailors  from  a  chief  who  was  engaged  in  the 
terrible  work.  "  The  Salvagis  seemed  to  be  good  freinds  with  vs  while  they 
feared  vs,  but  when  they  see  famin  prevail,  they  begun  to  insult,  as 
apeareth  by  the  seaquell ;  for  on  of  thayr  Pennesses  or  Chef  men,  Caled 
Pexsouth,  implyed  himself  to  Learne  to  speek  Einglish,  obsarving  all  things 
for  his  bloudy  ends.  He  told  me  he  Loued  Einglish  men  very  well,  but  he 
Loued  me  best  of  all.  Then  he  said,  '  you  say  ff rench  men  doe  not  loue 
you,  but  I  will  tell  you  what  wee  have  done  to  ym.  Ther  was  a  ship  broken 
by  a  storm.  Thay  saued  most  of  they  goods  &  hid  it  in  the  Ground. 
We  maed  ym  tell  us  whear  it  was.  Yn  we  maed  ym  our  sarvants.  Thay 
weept  much.  When  we  parted  them,  we  gave  ym  such  meat  as  our  dogs 
eate.  On  of  ym  had  a  Booke  he  would  ofen  Reed  in.  We  Asked  him 
'what  his  Booke  said.'  He  answered,  'It  saith,  ther  will  a  people,  like 
French  men,  com  into  this  Cuntry  and  driue  you  all  a  way,  &  now  we  thincke 
you  ar  thay.'  We  took  Away  thay  Clothes.  Thay  liued  but  a  little  while. 
On  of  them  Liued  Longer  than  the  Rest,  for  he  had  a  good  master  & 
gaue  him  a  wiff.  He  is  now  ded,  but  hath  a  sonn  Alive.  An  other  Ship 
Came  into  the  bay  wth  much'  goods  to  Trucke,  yn  I  said  to  the  Sacham,  I 
will  tell  you  how  you  shall  have  all  for  nothing.  Bring  all  our  Canows  and 
all  our  Beauer  &  a  great  many  men,  but  no  bow  nor  Arrow  Clubs,  nor 
Hachits,  but  knives  vnder  ye  scins  yl  About  our  Lines.  Throw  vp  much 
Beauer  vpon  thay  Deck  ;  sell  it  very  Cheep  &  when  I  giue  the  word, 
thrust  yor  knives  in  the  French  mens  Bellys.  Thus  we  killed  ym  all.  But 
Monnsear  Fflnch,  Master  of  thayr  ship,  being  wounded,  Leped  into  ye  hold. 


A'/.V(/\V   If  AND  HOOK   OF  BOSTON   IfAN/iOR. 


.85 


We  bidd  him  coin  vp,  but  ho  would  not.  Then  we  cult  thay  Cable  & 
ye  Ship  went  Ashore  &  lay  upon  her  sid  &  slept  ther.  Flinch  cam  vp  & 
we  killed  him.  Then  our  Sacham  devided  thay  goods  and  ffiered  they 
Ship,  &  it  maed  a  very  greeat  fier.  Som  of  our  Company  Asked  ym  '  how 
long  it  was  Agoe  sine  thay  first  see  ships?'  Thay  said  thay  could  not  tell, 
but  thay  had  heard  men  say  ye  first  ship  yl  thay  see,  seemed  to  be  a  rioting 
Hand,  as  thay  suposed  broken  of  from  the  maine  Land,  wrapt  together  w1' 
the  roats  of  Trees,  with  some  trees  upon  it.  Thay  went  to  it  with  thay 
Canows,  but  seeing  men  and  hearing  guns,  thay  maed  hast  to  be  gon.'' 


Many  years  later  traditions  of  these  events  lingered  around  the  Bay,  and 
pieces  of  French  money  were  found  near  the  Indian  villages  of  Dorches- 
ter. But  no  record  can  be  found  of  Leonard  Peddock,  who  has  left  so 
great  a  monument  in  our  harbor. 

In  1634  the  island  was  granted  to  Charlestown,  for  twenty  years,  to  keep 
cattle  upon.  The  rich,  sweet  grass  on  the  bluffs  seems  to  have  been  very 
kindly  food  for  domestic  animals;  for  in  May,  1775,  there  were  30  cattle 
and  500  sheep  here,  which  a  raiding  party  of  amphibious  American  infantry 
swept  off,  and  carried  to  the  mainland.  The  next  year  600  militia  of  Boston 
and  the  Old  Colony  encamped  here,  to  guard  the  harbor  entrance.  In  spite 
of   Sir  Edmund  Andros's  dictum,  that  an   Indian  deed  to  land  was  of  "no 


1 86  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

more  value  than  the  scratch  of  a  bear's  claw,''  the  people  of  Hull  were 
careful  to  secure  a  grant  of  the  island  from  one  of  the  last  Massachusee 
sachems ;  and  the  domain  was  early  taken  from  Charlestown  and  given  to 
Nantasket,  whose  people  divided  it  up,  each  taking  four  acres. 

In  1778  the  great  French  fleet  of  the  Count  D'Estaing,  battered  by 
storms  and  by  British  guns,  took  refuge  in  Boston  Harbor.  While  the 
vessels  were  being  refitted,  large  numbers  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  were 
set  ashore  on  the  islands,  where  they  erected  fortifications.  Soon  after- 
wards a  British  fleet  of  a  hundred  sail  approached  the  harbor,  but  were  fain 
to  turn  to  sea  again  when  they  saw  the  island-forts.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  the  outer  head  of  Peddock's  was  fortified  at  this  time ;  and  very  faint 
remains  of  the  old  intrenchments  are  still  pointed  out.  As  Chevalier  states 
in  his  history  of  the  French  navy,  "  Des  batteries  etaient  deja  commencees 
sur  quelques-unes  des  nombreuses  lies  qui  avoisinaient  la  rade."  As  he 
previously  gives  a  minute  description  of  the  French  forts  at  Hull  and 
George's  Island,  this  paragraph  must  refer  to  other  localities  near  Nantasket 
Roads,  of  which  Peddock's  afforded  the  best  site  for  defensive  works. 

There  are  grewsome  traditions  of  wrecks  on  these  bold  shores,  one  of 
them  relating  to  a  plague-ship  which  drifted  into  the  northern  cove.  It  was 
perhaps  thought  best  to  have  a  domain  so  associated  with  suffering  and 
death  placed  under  some  form  of  ecclesiastical  supervision,  and  Peddock's 
became  a  part  of  the  parsonage-lands  of  Hull.  About  fifteen  years  ago  it 
was  bought  by  Miss  Sallie  Jones  of  Hingham,  who  now  owns  the  entire 
island  save  a  narrow  strip  of  eight  acres.  There  is  a  landing-stage  near 
Cleverly's  house  ;  and  in  August  camping-parties  frequent  certain  parts  of 
the  island,  their  white  tents  making  pretty  contrasts  with  the  dark  bluffs. 
Peddock's  is  a  series  of  lenticular  hills,  almost  insulated  from  each  other, 
and  joined  only  by  low  bars.  The  hotel  guests  at  Hull  enjoy  the  results  of 
the  cattle  grazing  along  these  curving  highlands,  and  the  fruits  and  vegeta- 
bles of  the  little  farm.  Nor  are  the  higher  senses  without  satisfaction  here; 
for  one  of  Foxcroft  Cole's  best  paintings  (much  admired  at  the  St.  Botolph 
Club)  portrayed  the  lovely  view  down  the  glen  back  of  the  houses,  and  the 
luxuriant  orchard,  with  its  network  of  wind-twisted  boughs. 

In  the  southern  port  of  the  harbor,  beyond  Peddock's,  are  several  inter- 
esting little  islands,  rarely  visited  by  summer  explorers,  yet  each  helping  to 
make  up  the  lovely  panorama  of  blended  sea  and  shore.  Grape  Island,  a 
rather  pretty  and  fertile  islet,  lies  off  the  mouths  of  the  two  Weymouth 
Rivers,  and  covers  about  fifty  acres,  which  are  gracefully  disposed  in  two 
swelling  hills.  About  a  furlong  distant,  to  the  eastward,  rise  the  thickets 
and  ledges  of  Slate  Island.  Grape  has  been  for  many  years  the  abode  of  an 
eccentric  old  fisherman  whom  the  harbor  people  call  Captain  Smith  (a  mari- 
time simplification  of  his  true  name,  which  was  Amos  Pendleton),  and  who 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


[87 


is  distinguished  equally  for  his  dangerous  temper,  his  Munchausen  stories 
of  a  past  life  of  crime,  and  his  complicated  and  ingenious  system  of  pro- 
fanity. He  claims  to  have  been  for  many  years  an  officer  of  a  slave-ship, 
and  afterwards  of  a  smuggler  on  the  Spanish  Main  ;  and,  to  the  few  visitors 
who  could  win  his  confidence,  he  told  blood-curdling  stories  of  battles  with 
cruisers,  and  long  nights  over  Southern  seas,  with  English  or  Spanish 
men-of-war  in  hot  pursuit,  long-toms  roaring,  and  slaves  dying  by  scores  in 
the  hold.  The  scene  would  change  from  the  coast  of  Africa  to  the  bayous 
of  Louisiana,  or  the  lagoons  of  South  America;  but  everywhere  the  story 
was  of  horror  and  bloodshed.  Captain  Smith  has  a  sinister  reputation 
among  the  yachtsmen  and  fishermen  of  the  harbor ;  and  many  stories  are 
told  of  his  firing  upon  invaders  of  his  ancient  solitary  realm,  and  planting 
bird-shot  in  inconvenient  localities.  But  the  writer  of  this  chronicle  wan- 
dered at  will  over  the  domains  of  this  sanguinary  hermit,  from   the  great 


Peddock's  Island. 

bowlders  on  the  eastern  point  to  the  shell-heaps  which  the  savages  left  here 
so  long  ago,  and  up  the  grassy  hills,  nor  heard  nor  saw  the  legendary  shot- 
gun which  holds  four  yacht-clubs  at  bay.  Here  and  there  bevies  of  horses 
were  enjoying  the  rich  pasturage ;  the  perfume  of  the  noble  forest  on  the 
adjacent  Hingham  shore  came  off  on  the  land-breeze  ;  and  in  the  hollow, 
near  the  cold  spring  and  the  deep  water  on  the  south  of  the  island,  nestled 
the  snug  little  house,  among  its  vegetable-gardens. 

This  was  one  of  the  favorite  haunts  of  the  Indians,  who,  like  their  suc- 
cessors in  the  land,  delighted  in  large  and  juicy  clams,  skilfully  baked  among 
hot  rocks  and  fragrant  sea-weed.  Ring  after  ring  of  these  stones  has  been 
found  here,  set  up  edgewise,  with  beds  of  clean  beach-gravel  in  the  enclosed 
spaces.  Here  the  careful  searcher  may  still  find  stone  tomahawks,  with 
which,  in  long-past  days,  the  red  epicures  broke  the  clam-shells,  while  they 
enjoyed  their  jovial  feasts,  and  made  inscrutable  and  polysyllabic  Massa- 
chusee  jokes.  The  esculent  clams  are  still  found  in  great  numbers  on  the 
western  bar. 


I'88       KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

In  1775  four  small  British  vessels  came  down  from  Boston,  and  anchored 
off  this  point,  to  the  intense  alarm  of  the  Old-Colony  towns,  over  whose 
peaceful  plains  the  roar  of  alarm-guns,  the  rapid  clanging  of  guns,  and  the 
bickering  of  drums  were  quickly  heard.  The  rumor  fled  down  the  country- 
side, that  300  red-coats  were  marching  on  Weymouth  ;  and  all  the  houses  in 
Old  Spain  were  deserted  by  the  people.  Nearly  2,000  well-armed  minute- 
men  assembled  to  cover  the  towns ;  and  when  they  found  that  the  object  of 
the  naval  expedition  was  the  hay  on  Grape  Island,  a  strong  force  of  rural 
musketeers  put  off  in  boats  brought  round  from  Hingham,  intending  to 
engage  the  enemy,  and  save  the  Yankee  forage.  But  the  raiding-party  made 
haste  to  get  upon  their  vessels,  and  sailed  away  to  Boston,  happy  in  the 
acquisition  of  several  tons  of  fine  hay.  Meantime  the  whole  country  was 
aroused,  the  minute-men  made  hundreds  of  ineffectual  pot-shots  at  the 
scarlet  harvesters ;  and  the  British  schooner-of-war  cannonaded  Eastward 
Neck  with  all  her  might. 

Slate  Island,  comprising  about  twelve  acres,  and  nearly  nine  and  a  half 
miles  from  Boston,  is  difficult  of  access  except  at  high  tide ;  but  when 
reached  the  aptness  of  the  name  is  evident,  for  its  slaty  ledges  run  far  out 
into  the  water,  their  black  edges  fringed  by  the  light  spray.  The  little 
beaches  are  covered  with  splinters  and  slabs  of  slate,  which  are  ground  and 
beaten  to  and  fro  by  the  waves,  when  they  surge  around  these  silent  shores. 
The  venerable  divine  who  wrote  "  New-England's  Plantation,"  in  1630,  spoke 
with  enthusiasm  of  the  existence  of  "  plentie  of  Slates  at  the  He  of  Slate 
in  Masathulets  Bay."  Yet  a  year  later  Government  ordered  that  no  slate 
should  be  taken  therefrom  without  permission.  In  1650  the  island  was 
granted  to  William  Torrey,  with  a  reservation  that  li  any  man  shalbe  free  to 
make  use  of  the  slate."  It  remained  in  his  possession  only  two  years, 
passing  then  by  grant  to  Hull. 

Around  the  coast  rise  the  ragged  and  irregular  ledges  of  state,  well- 
nigh  concealed  in  places  by  a  luxuriant  growth  of  brown  sea-weed  and 
masses  of  kelp,  which  seem  only  floating  upon  the  water's  top,  though  they 
cling  so  closely  to  the  rocks  below,  giving  to  the  island  an  appearance  as 
if  hidden  dangers  were  continually  lurking  around  it.  Clambering  over 
the  rocks,  and  across  the  tiny  beaches  covered  with  splinters  and  fragments 
of  slate,  and  passing  many  ancient  excavations,  one  suddenly  gets  entangled 
in  the  high  bushes  which  cover  and  crown  the  little  island,  making  of  its 
crest  a  hopeless  jungle.  Here,  in  July,  grow  the  rarest  and  sweetest  red- 
raspberries,  and  the  perfect  golden-rod,- — 

"  Graceful,  tossing  plume  of  glowing  gold, 
Waving  lonely  on  the  rocky  ledge  ; 
Leaning  seaward,  lovely  to  behold, 

Clinging  to  the  high  cliff's  ragged  edge,"  — 


A'/JVG'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


189 


and  the  sad  little  purple  aster,  which  dares  to  stay  later  than  either  of  the 
others,  until  the  chilling  frosty  breezes  come  down  the  Bay.  On  the  north 
and  west,  towards  Grape  Island,  are  low  gray  cliffs  of  slate-rock,  tier  after 
tier,  standing  upon  edge,  or  slanting  backward  or  forward  like  ancient  time- 
worn  and  weather-beaten  tombstones.  Here  schooners  load  with  the  slate ; 
and  one  may  see  the  quarries,  all  along,  from  which  they  have  taken  the 
material  for  countless  cellar-walls  and  underpinnings.  Were  its  quality 
better,  who  knows  but  that  Slate  Island,  with  its  rocks  and  flowers,  might 
vanish  as  utterly  as  Nix1s  Mate  has  done  ? 

In  a  rude  little  hut  near  the  southern  shore  long  dwelt  a  strange  hermit, 
whose  lonely  and  sequestered  life  was  the  subject  of  many  winter-evening 


Hingham.  Here  was 
surrounded  with 
visited   often  by 


stories    among    the    peaceful    farms    of 
a  solitude  to  which  Thoreau's  hermitage, 
friendly  flowers  and  fraternal  trees,  and 
respectful  Concordians,  was  as  lively  as 
Scollay  Square  after  a  matinee. 
In   this  poor  anchorite  "  the   He 
of  Slate  "  may  have  found 
its  romance,  sealed  to  the 
world. 

Nut  Island  lies  in  Ouin- 
cy  Bay,  "j\  miles  from  Bos- 
ton, a  little  to  the  north  of 
Great  Hill  on  Hough's 
Neck,  and  was  sometimes 
called  Hough's  Tombs  on 
the  queer  old  eighteenth- 
century    charts.      It   rises 

sharply  on  one  side  into  a  tall,  slightly  concave  highland,  the  top  of  which  is 
fairly  rounded  and  covered  with  green  grass  and  summer  flowers,  and  slopes 
gently  down  again  to  the  water  on  the  other  side.  Just  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff 
are  one  or  two  sturdy  trees,  a  few  deserted  cannon,  a  wharf  and  track,  and 
three  fishermen's  huts.  The  guns  are  immense,  and  some  of  them  have  been 
exploded  by  the  great  tests  to  which  they  were  subjected.  Yonder  are  the 
sand-banks  which  seem  to  have  stood  unyielding  their  heavy  fire,  though 
not  so  the  iron  plates  lying  thereabouts,  bent,  broken,  and  pierced  through. 
Many  experiments  in  ordnance  have  been  tried  on  this  sequestered  islet; 
and  one  can  see  faintly  in  the  distance  on  Prince's  Head  the  bluff  at  which 
the  shots  were  aimed,  although  they  sometimes  fell  wide  of  their  mark, 
ricocheting  over  the  waters,  and  dropping  into  the  waters  about  Hull.  One 
of  these  huge  missiles  even  cut  the  spile  from  the  upper  wharf,  startling 
the  good  people  of  Hull,  and  disturbing  the  quiet  of  their  peaceful  little 


Peace  and   War,    Nut   Island. 


190  KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

cemetery  on  the  hill-slope,  where  it  finally  landed.  This  shot  weighed  400 
pounds,  and  with  great  labor  was  hauled  to  the  hotel,  only  to  be  reclaimed 
by  the  United  States.  In  October,  1876,  a  Wiard  gun  fired  a  531-pound 
shot  through  12  inches  of  solid  wrought-iron  plates  on  the  Prince's-Head 
target,  1,650  yards  distant.  Not  far  from  half  a  million  dollars  were  spent 
in  the  experiments  made  here  by  Norman  Wiard,  in  endeavors  to  find  the 
gun  of  the  future.  Here  occurred  the  famous  tests  of  the  fifteen-inch 
breech-loading  rifle,  made  at  South  Boston,  and  found  to  have  a  range  of 
six  miles,  and  power  to  drive  a  shot  through  twenty  inches  of  iron  plate. 
The  newly  adopted  hydraulic  gun-carriages  also  received  their  most  efficient 
tests  here. 

It  is  very  important  to  have  such  a  testing-ground  for  heavy  ordnance  in 
this  vicinity,  since  the  chief  manufactory  of  American  fortress-guns  is  at 
South  Boston.  Here,  at  the  famous  Alger  Foundry,  the  process  of  gun- 
making  has  been  studied  as  a  science  for  fifty  years,  during  which  time  2,000 
pieces  of  heavy  ordnance  and  500,000  projectiles  have  been  made  for  the 
United-States  Government.  Of  these  the  number  furnished  during  the 
late  Secession  War  were  700  bronze  guns  and  howitzers,  700  iron  guns,  332 
of  the  great  Rodmans  (of  ten-inch  calibre  and  larger),  and  a  few  heavy 
rifles.  Here  also  were  made  the  fifteen-inch  Rodmans,  weighing  twenty-five 
tons  each,  with  wonderful  powers  of  endurance  in  long  firing.  Among  these 
were  the  guns  with  which  the  Monito?-  fought  the  Merrimac,  the  splendid 
armament  of  the  New  Ironsides,  and  some  of  the  heaviest  pieces  at  Fortress 
Monroe. 

A  short  bar  connects  the  island  with  Hough's  Neck  on  the  south,  and 
the  shallow  strait  may  be  forded  at  low  tide.  Some  years  ago  a  merry  party 
of  summer  pleasurers  drove  down  here,  and  essayed  to  navigate  their 
horse  and  carriage  to  the  island.  But  the  tide  was  too  far  advanced;  and 
the  vehicle  capsized  in  deep  water,  and  left  several  of  its  occupants  to 
drown.  The  view  from  Nut  Island  is  very  pretty  towards  Hough's  Neck, 
across  the  fields  and  treetops,  and  past  the  towns  and  villages  beyond  to 
the  distant  Blue  Hills ;  and  the  air  is  fragrant  with  the  odors  from  the 
flowers  and  fruits  of  the  shore.  Morton,  "  the  Lord  of  Misrule,"  wrote 
that  '■'  There  are  divers  arematicall  herbes,  and  plants,  as  Sassafras,  Muske, 
Roses,  Violets,  Balme,  Laurell,  Hunnisuckles,  and  the  like,  that  with  their 
vapors  perfume  the  aire ;  and  it  has  bin  a  thing  much  observed  that,  shipps 
have  come  from  Virginea  where  there  have  bin  scarce  five  men  able  to  hale 
a  rope,  untill  they  have  come  within  40  Degrees  of  latitude,  and  smell  the 
sweet  aire  of  the  shore,  where  they  have  suddainly  recovered."  And  he 
should  certainly  know,  for  he  was  familiar  with  every  thing  about  his  home, 
and  especially  with  this  locality.  Morton  tells  this  little  story  of  himself 
and  Bubbles,  the  berated  "Master  of  Ceremonies"  at  Merry-Mount:  "To- 


I92  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

gether  Bubbles  and  hee  goes  in  the  Canow  to  Nut  Island  for  brants, 
and  there  his  host  makes  a  shotte  and  breakes  the  winges  of  many.  Bub- 
bles in  hast  and  single  handed,  paddels  out  like  a  Cow  in  a  cage ;  his  host 
cals  back  to  rowe  two  handed  like  to  a  pare  of  oares,  and  before  this  could 
be  performed,  the  fowles  had  time  to  swimme  to  other  fiockes,  and  so  to 
escape;  the  best  part  of  the  pray  being  lost,  mayd  his  host  to  mutter  at 
him,  and  so  to  parte  for  that  time  discontended."  There  are  still  many 
fowls  at  Nut  Island,  apparently  not  in  the  least  disturbed  by  guns  greater 
than  Morton's  ;  and  could  the  jolly  lord  return- now  with  Bubbles,  he  might 
perchance  think  more  of  the  shooting  and  less  of  the  fowls. 

Hangman's  Island  stands  well  out  in  Quincy  Bay,  with  open  waters  on 
all  sides.  It  is  hardly  more  than  a  reef,  with  deep  channels  all  around,  and 
a  convenient  strip  of  bedch  on  the  south.  Here  are  several  snug  little  huts 
of  fisher-folk ;  and  among  the  rocks  are  patches  of  corn,  potatoes,  and  other 
vegetables  in  their  seasons,  among  which  the  crickets  chirp  merrily  during 
the  long  summer  days.  Here  and  there  bloom  clusters  of  wild  flowers, 
leaning  over  the  dark  ledges,  and  outliving  the  gales ;  and  occasionally  an 
adventurous  bird,  flying  from  the  mainland,  rests  on  the  beaten  crags.  The 
origin  of  the  name  of  this  inhabited  rock  is  obscure,  and  hardly  invites 
speculation.  Perhaps  some  of  the  ancient  pirates  met  their  fate  here,  and 
the  gloomy  tragedy  is  thus  commemorated.  On  a  chart  published  in  Lon- 
don in  1775,  it  is  called  Haymari's  Island,  and  covers  a  much  larger  area 
than  at  present. 


Far  in-shore,  on  the  broad  flats  which  stretch  out  from  Mount  Wollaston, 
rises  the  narrow  and  singularly  curved  Half-moon  Island ;  and  on  the  east 
side  of  Hough's  Neck  is  Raccoon  Island,  an  irregular  tract  of  ten  acres, 
overlooking  the  broadenings  of  Weymouth  Fore  River.  Well  out  in  the 
centre  of  the  Bay,  east  of  Nut  Island,  Sheep  Island  breaks  above  the  blue 
plain  of  waters,  with  its  two  acres  of  level  ground,  whereon,  in  ancient 
times,  the  farmers  of  the  adjacent  mainland  kept  their  little  flocks,  securely 
fenced  by  the  surges  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Many  years  ago  it  bore  the 
name  of  Sun  Island,  but  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  why.  The  snug  little 
domain  is  now  frequently  occupied  by  camping  parties,  whose  tents  are 
visible  from  the  Nantasket  and  Hingham  steamboats,  running  close  by  to 
the  eastward. 

Less  than  a  mile  distant,  across  the  channel,  rises  the  high  round  hill 
of  Pumpkin,  Bumpkin,  or  Ward's  Island,  a  conspicuous  green  dome,  ara- 
besqued  with  daisies  and  thistle-tops,  and  covering  nearly  fifty  acres.  It 
was  bequeathed  by  Samuel  Ward  to  Harvard  College,  in  1682,  and  still 
belongs  to  and  yields  an  income  to  the  University. 


ICING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  1 93 


Ul\)z  Penal  (£olottp.  of  Mux  EslantL 

GODIVA'S    HEIR.  — THE     CHRISTIAN     INDIANS.  — ANCIENT     MERRYMAKINGS.— 
BOSTON'S  PRISONS  AND  CHARITIES. 

EVER  was  fairer  site  found  for  a  convict-colony  than  Deer 
Island,  at  the  mouth  of  Boston  Harbor,  which  has  at  dif- 
ferent times  been  the  abode  of  thousands  of  unwilling  guests, 
in  its  great  municipal  buildings,  —  the  House  of  Reformation 
for  juvenile  offenders,  the  House  of  Industry,  and  the  Alms- 
house. It  is  a  little  continent  in  itself,  with  the  tall  bluffs  of  North,  East, 
South,  and  Graveyard  Heads,  and  the  high  ridge  of  Signal  Hill,  with  many 
an  incipient  cape  and  miniature  bay.  There  are  also  two  ponds  of  fresh 
water  amid  the  environment  of  salty  waves ;  whereof  one  is  known  as  Ice 
Pond,  since  it  yields  large  stores  of  ice  for  the  summer  use  of  the  islanders ; 
and  the  other  as  Cow  Pond,  because  the  cattle  of  this  penal  colony  find  in 
it  their  daily  drink.  The  island  is  nearly  a  mile  long,  and  covers  184  acres, 
with  a  broad  margin  of  flats.  It  is  4^  miles  from  Long  Wharf,  and  nearly 
a  mile  from  Nix's  Mate  and  Long-Island  Head,  across  Broad  Sound.  On 
the  west,  Shirley  Gut  separates  it  from  Point  Shirley,  in  Winthrop,  with  a 
rushing  strait  of  salt  water,  narrowed  down  at  one  point  to  325  feet  across, 
where  occasionally  a  few  of  the  more  daring  boys,  tired  of  their  island 
prison,  have  swam  across,  or  drowned  in  the  attempt.  If  safely  landed 
on  the  opposite  side,  they  are  almost  sure  to  be  re-captured  by  the  officials, 
when  they  always  say,  "  We  were  only  goin'  home  to  see  the  folks,  and 
comin'  right  back."  On  the  side  where  the  waves  of  the  Bay  dash  against 
the  bluffs,  the  National  Government  has  built  a  costly  and  massive  stone 
sea-wall.  The  debris  from  the  bluffs,  in  stormy  weather,  had  already  formed 
two  long  bars  ;  one  running  towards  Point  Shirley,  and  the  other  towards  the 
Graves.  The  dark  pyramidal  beacon  well  out  in  the  water  towards  Long 
Island  marks  the  site  of  the  southern  tip  of  ancient  Deer  Island,  which 
has  been  washed  away  for  hundreds  of  feet. 

"  The  waves  unbuild  the  wasting  shore : 

Where  mountains  towered,  the  billows  sweep." 

Four  years  after  Boston  was  settled,  a  traveller  spoke  of  "  Deare  Ilande, 
so-called  because  of  the  Deare  which  often  swimme  thither  from  the  Maine, 
when  they  are  chased  by  the  Woolves.     Some  have  killed  sixteen  Deare  in 


194  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

a  day  upon  this  Ilande."  About  the  same  time  Morton  of  Merry-Mount 
wrote  thus,  in  similar  vein  :  "  On  all  these  [deare]  the  Wolfes  doe  pray  con- 
tinually. The  best  meanes  they  have  to  escape  the  wolfes  is  by  swimming 
to  Hands,  or  necks  of  land,  whereby  they  escape ;  for  the  wolfe  will  not 
presume  to  follow  them,  untill  they  see  them  over  a  river;  then  being 
landed,  (they  wayting  on  the  shore)  undertake  the  water,  and  so  follow  with 
fresh  suite."  A  more  modern  romancer  gives  a  vivid  account  of  Sir  Harry 
Vane,  Endicott,  and  Winthrop,  and  their  Pequot  slaves,  hunting  the  deer 
here,  with  arquebuse  and  arbalest.  Then  there  were  high  forests  and 
grassy  glades,  swamps  and  thickets,  all  over  the  island.  Although  Motley 
speaks  of  moose  on  the  South  Shore,  these  were  the  common  Virginian 
deer,  such  as  now  abound  in  the  Plymouth  woods.  In  1634  this  fine  game- 
preserve  was  granted  to  Boston,  together  with  Long  and  Hog  Islands,  for 
£2  a  year;  and  a  year  later  Spectacle  Island  was  included,  and  the  annual 
tribute  reduced  to  4s.  Massachusetts  has  never  reclaimed  this  valuable 
piece  of  property  from  Boston,  in  whose  possession  it  has  since  remained. 
In  1636  the  Bostonians  were  given  permission  to  cut  wood  here;  and  so 
the  gallant  groves,  which  had  so  long  breasted  the  north-easters,  went  down 
before  the  Puritan  axes.  Five  years  later  the  island  became  a  pound,  in 
which  to  keep  stray  domestic  animals ;  and  a  building  was  erected  to  shelter 
them.  In  1644-47  it  was  leased  to  Penn  and  Oliver,  for  £y  a  year,  which 
went  to  the  school-fund ;  and  later  Bendall  hired  it  for  ^14  a  year.  In  1655 
the  cutting  of  wood  was  prohibited ;  and  seven  years  later  the  lease  reverted 
to  Sir  Thomas  Temple,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Earl  Leofric  of  Mercia  and 
Lady  Godiva  of  Coventry,  and  brother  of  the  famous  Sir  William  Temple. 
After  his  several  years  in  New  England,  he  returned  home,  and  befriended 
the  colonies  at  court.  Once  when  King  Charles  was  upbraiding  Massachu- 
setts for  having  coined  money,  a  sovereign  prerogative,  Sir  Thomas  showed 
him  a  pine-tree  shilling.  "But  what  is  this  tree  upon  the  coin?"  exclaimed 
the  irate  monarch.  To  whom  the  knight  rejoined,  "  That  is  the  oak  in 
which  Your  Majesty  found  shelter ; "  and  Charles,  greatly  pleased,  cried  out, 
"  They  are  a  parcel  of  honest  dogs  !  "  Sir  Thomas  had  a  son  born  on  one 
of  the  harbor  islands,  who  afterwards  became  famous  as  Sir  John  Temple, 
Surveyor-General  of  Customs  in  England.  A  town  in  New  Hampshire  was 
named  for  him.  Certainly  it  is  a  strange  and  noteworthy  dispensation 
which  makes  of  one  of  our  islands  the  birthplace  of  a  descendant  of  Lady 
Godiva.  Robert  Temple  came  to  New  England  in  1718,  and  built  a  very 
handsome  mansion  on  Noddle's  Island.  He  married  the  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain John  Nelson  of  Long  Island;  and  the  granddaughter  of  this  noble 
couple  was  the  mother  of  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  who  renewed  the 
family  ties  by  marrying  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Temple. 

One  of  the  native  proprietors  of  Deer  Island  was  Winnepurkitt,  the  last 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


195 


sagamore  of  Lynn,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Passaconaway,  the  renowned 
chieftain  of  the  New-Hampshire  tribes.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Winne- 
purkitt  was  the  hero  of  Whittier's  poem  of  "  The  Bridal  of  Pennacook," 
who  dwelt  where,  — 

"faint  with  distance  came  the  stifled  roar, 
The  melancholy  lapse  of  waves  on  that  low  shore." 

He  became  sachem  in  1633,  and  in  1676  was  transported  to  Barbadoes, 
—  a  deadly  change  from  his  cool  and  breezy  northern  shores.  In  1685  the 
Indian  chiefs  Wampatuck  (grandson  of  Chickataubut)  and  David  (son  of 
Sagamore  George)  were  well  paid  to  give  a  quit-claim  of  the  island,  which, 
however,  Sir  Edmund  Andros  endeavored  to  wrest  from  its  tenant. 

No  sadder  scene  has  New  England  ever  witnessed  than  Deer  Island 


The  House  of  Industry,   Deer  Island 

in  1675-76,  when,  during  the  panic  caused  by  King  Philip's  War,  Massa- 
chusetts tore  the  Christian  Indians  from  their  inland  villages,  and  confined 
them  upon  this  bleak  and  dreary  strand.  The  penalty  of  death  was  enacted 
against  any  who  should  leave  this  gloomy  prison,  and  if  any  one  should 
help  them  to  escape  he  should  be  punished  "  as  a  man-stealer."  Yet  the 
Province  appointed  officials  to  go  down  regularly,  and  keep  them  well  fed 
and  supplied.  Eliot,  their  saintly  apostle,  said  that  the  Indian  Christians 
went  to  their  captivity  "patiently,  humbly,  and  piously,  without  murmuring 
or  complaining  against  ye  English,"  sailing  on  the  downward  tide  at  mid- 
night, from  the  present  site  of  Watertown.  Through  the  dreary  winter, 
their  chief  sustenance  was  fish  and  clams ;  their  only  shelter  the  scanty 
thickets  and  the  lee  sides  of  the  bluffs.  Out  of  this  500  martyrs  to  English 
distrust  very  many  died,  and  were  sadly  buried  by  the  moaning  and  misty 
sea.     Later  in  the  winter,  as  town  after  town  was  destroyed  by  the  hostile 


ig6  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

tribes,  and  homeless  fugitives  poured  even  into  Boston,  the  hard-pressed 
Provincials  sent  down  to  Deer  Island,  asking  for  volunteers.  Many  of  the 
captives  came  forward,  and  were  armed  and  sent  to  the  frontiers  (there 
were  50  in  Capt.  Hinchman's  company  alone) ;  where  they  fought  their  red 
brethren  with  equal  valor  and  skill,  so  that  they  slew  400  of  them,  and 
rescued  many  white  captives.  As  Gen.  Gookin  then  said,  they  "turned 
ye  balance  to  ye  English  side,  so  that  ye  enemy  went  down  ye  wind  amain." 
In  May,  1676,  the  surviving  women  and  children  and  old  men  were  returned 
to  their  villages  in  honor.  Thereafter  the  island  was  used  as  a  prison  for 
hostile  Indians  captured  in  war.  Some  of  these  Christian  Indians,  and 
many  of  the  captured  heathen,  were  sent  into  slavery  in  the  West  Indies, 
from  whence  they  never  returned.  Others  were  sold  at  Tangier,  and  else- 
where on  the  African  coast ;  and  Eliot,  the  saintly  apostle,  followed  them, 
even  in  their  distant  Saracen  prisons,  with  his  letters  and  counsels. 

Eighty  years  later  a  nobler  sight  was  seen,  when  a  splendid  naval  pro- 
cession emerged  from  Broad  Sound,  and,  rounding  the  east  point  of  Deer 
Island,  bore  away  for  the  north-east,  to  the  victorious  siege  of  Annapolis 
Royal.  It  included  the  frigates  Success,  Mermaid,  and  Siren,  and  33  trans- 
ports, in  which  were  upwards  of  5,000  British  and  Provincial  soldiers. 
Another  score  of  years  passed  by,  and  the  old  comrades  became  antagonists, 
when  His  Majesty's  army  was  blockaded  in  Boston.  In  June,  1775,  Major 
Greaton  captured  a  British  man-of-war's  barge  and  crew  here,  and  carried 
from  the  island  800  sheep  and  many  horses,  —  very  useful  supplies  for  the 
Continental  army  at  Cambridge,  and  sorely  missed  by  the  hungry  red-coats 
up  the  Bay.  In  181 3  fortifications  were  erected  here  by  the  Boston  militia, 
to  prevent  a  naval  attack  by  Broad  Sound  or  Shirley  Gut.  The  island  was 
then  well  known  as  a  summer  resort,  and  had  a  notable  hotel  and  ballroom, 
with  swings,  bowling-alleys,  and  other  familiar  adjuncts  of  modern  excursion 
life.  This  was  a  favorite  resort  of  the  picnic-parties  of  that  period;  and 
here  frequently  came  the  annual  excursion  of  the  West  Church  of  Boston. 
In  1823  the  last  of  these  trips  was  made,  "accompanied  by  a  very  large 
and  respectable  number  of  citizens.  .  .  .  The  day  was  fine,  entertainment 
very  good,  and  agreeable  to  all."  The  interest  of  the  locality  was  probably 
not  lessened  by  its  ghastly  tradition,  which  was  rehearsed  with  bated  breath 
by  the  people  of  the  lower  islands.     Dominie  Brown  thus  hints  at  it:  — 

"  For  oft  I've  heard  the  story  told, 
How  ghost,  without  a  head  ; 
Here  guards  some  thousand  pounds  in  gold, 
By  some  strange  fancy  led." 

In  the  spring  of  1882  a  band  of  Zuni  Indians  from  the  mysterious  pueblos 
of  New  Mexico  visited  Deer  Island,  to  perform  their  strange  religious  cere- 


KING  'S  HAND  BOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


197 


monies  on  the  shores  of  "  The  Ocean  of  Sunrise,"  and  to  fill  their  ancestral 
vases  with  the  sacred  water  of  the  sea.  They  were  attended  by  300  citi- 
zens, including  many  prominent  divines  and  scholars.  Advancing  far  out 
on  the  rocks,  they  chanted  strange  songs  of  prayer,  and  offered  sacrifices 
to  the  waves,  praying,  "  Make  the  roads  of  life  for  ourselves  and  for  our 
children  to  be  prolonged."  These  ceremonials  were  continued  upon  the 
beach  after  the  tide  had  driven  them  shoreward ;  and  Mr.  Cushing,  who  had 
long  been  a  resident  of  Zuni,  was  there  initiated  into  the  high  religious  order 
of  the  Kaukau,  an  order  which  is  many  centuries  old. 

The  construction  of  municipal  institutions  began  in  1847,  when  Boston 


Convicts  at  Work. 


built  here  several  large  buildings  for  sheltering  Irish  emigrants,  of  whom 
more  than  10,000  landed  between  January  and  July.  The  terrible  scourge 
of  ship-fever  made  formidable  ravages  among  these  new-comers,  hundreds 
of  whom  died  upon  the  island,  and  were  buried  and  forgotten.  About  three 
years  later  the  large  city  building  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $150,000.  In 
1858  the  House  of  Reformation  was  established;  and  the  buildings  of  the 
farm-school  and  the  asylum  for  pauper  girls  date  from  1869. 

The  main  building  is  a  large  brick  edifice,  with  three  wings  projecting 
from  a  high  central  block  crowned  with  a  cupola,  and  is  the  most  conspicu- 
ous object  in  the  outer  harbor.  In  its  western  front  is  the  home  of  the 
superintendent,  Col.  Guy  C.  Underwood;    and   the  nave  and  transepts  of 


198 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


this  cathedral  of  Lucifer  are  occupied  by  the  cells  and  dormitories,  kitchens 
and  dining-rooms,  workshops  and  schoolrooms,  of  the  army  of  the  criminal 
classes.  Here,  also,  is  the  spacious  chapel,  where  religion  finds  a  harder 
and  more  hopeless  (but  more  necessary)  task  than  under  the  splendid  towers 
of  Trinity  Church,  or  in  the  solemn  aisles  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Cross. 
It  is,  however,  a  pleasing  and  pathetic  sight  when  the  long  lines  of  uni- 
formed boys  file  into  the  galleries,  and  sing  their  hearty  songs  to  the  music 
of  the  band  which  has  been  recruited  from  their  own  ranks.  The  schools 
connected  with  the  reformatory  institutions  are  widely  famed  for  their  effi- 
ciency and  perfect  equipment,  and  yearly  give  300  or  more  boys  and  girls 


A   Lively  Sea. 


(from  7  to  19  years  of  age)  thorough  instruction.     Most  of  these  are  reforma- 
tion children  and  truants. 

From  the  main  building  a  broad  avenue  nearly  two  miles  long  runs  to  the 
wharf  and  around  the  island,  past  the  various  buildings,  each  one  of  which, 
though  sad  and  unpleasant  in  its  suggestions,  is  full  of  interest.  In  the 
greenhouse,  perhaps  the  only  building  free  from  a  prison  atmosphere,  are 
beautiful  flowers  of  all  kinds  and  varieties,  and  a  little  family  of  pretty  tame 
squirrels.  In  front  of  the  nursery,  one  of  the  smaller  buildings,  is  a  pretty 
garden,  where  in  early  spring  peep  out  long  lines  of  graceful  little  snow- 
drops, and  brilliant,  many-hued  crocuses.  Here  are  the  poor  little  children, 
left  homeless  almost  as  soon  as  born ;  but  tenderly  cared  for,  spending  a 
part  of  each  day  in  the  airy  kindergarten,  loving  their  dolls,  or  driving  their 
tin  horses  until  wearied,  when  the  bright  sunshine  and  air  of  the  island  is 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


199 


freely  granted  them  in  the  play-grounds.  Their  ages  vary  from  less  than 
three  to  five  or  six ;  but  all,  from  the  smallest  up,  wear  the  dull  uniform  of 
charity.  On  the  hill-slopes  are  the  vegetable-gardens,  abundant  and  suc- 
cessful ;  and  here  are  raised  enormous  mangel-wurzel  beets,  some  of  which 
weigh  twenty-five  or  thirty  pounds  each,  and  lie  heaped  up  on  the  floor  of 
the  barn  to  assure  the  incredulous  visitor.  In  the  barns  or  on  the  hill  are 
the  gentle-eyed  cattle  ;  and,  if  one  cares  to  see  an  endless  number  of  pigs, 
an  entire  building  is  devoted  to  them  on  the  southern  point. 

The  drive  around  the  island  is  everywhere  beautiful,  with  the  deep  blue 
of  the  sea  stretching  out  beyond,  the  distant  isles  dotted  over  the  bay,  and 
the  white  sails  of  vessels  appearing  upon  the  horizon,  returning  home  from 
distant  ports.  The  light-house  stands  out  whitely,  on  its  centre  of  rocky 
islands  ;  and  the  flag  over  Fort  Warren  seems  merely  a  speck  of  bright 
color.    The  eye  returns  again  to  the  nearer  surroundings,  and  perhaps  rests 


Scene  at  Deer  Island. 


on  the  queer  brown  seals  sunning  themselves  on  the  rocks,  and  looking  so 
much  a  part  of  them,  that,  but  for  their  sudden  disappearance  into  the 
water,  one  would  not  dream  they  were  any  thing  else.  Yet  they  come  in 
such  numbers  to  one  of  the  rocky  little  coves  of  the  island  near  the  sea- 
wall, that  the  bay  has  taken  their  name  to  itself.  Nearing  the  wharf  again, 
the  view  at  the  sunset  hours  is  very  charming,  when  the  sky  is  reddening  over 
the  golden-domed  hill,  the  crown  of  Boston,  and  the  gulls  are  flying  away 
seaward,  while  the  sails  of  vessels  at  anchor,  or  sailing  home,  brighten  with 
color  until  their  very  hulls  seem  all  ablaze.  As  the  sun  falls  lower,  the  blue 
hills  grow  grayer  and  grayer  while  the  twilight  steals  over  them,  until  they 
are  lost  in  haze,  and  the  murmur  of  the  sea  alone  remains  to  charm  the  night. 
The  dwellers  on  Deer  Island  number  from  1,200  to  1,500;  and  they  are 
maintained  at  an  annual  cost  of  $150,000.  The  average  expenditure  for 
each  person,  deducting  the  amount  earned  in  the  work-shops  of  the  institu- 


200  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

tions,  is  $1.96  a  week.  These  are  not  the  desperadoes  of  the  Common- 
wealth, but  rather  its  chronic  unfortunates,  the  dregs  of  the  great  European 
immigration,  —  men  and  women  who  return  here  month  after  month,  and 
year  after  year,  having  reached  the  mournful  condition  where  all  sense  of 
shame  and  responsibility  is  lost.  Perhaps  the  pure  air  and  rigid  decorum, 
the  good  food  and  safe  shelter  of  the  city  institutions,  afford  a  standing 
temptation  to  lure  them  from  the  gloomy  squalor  of  the  North  End.  Occa- 
sionally a  delinquent  American,  grown  uproarious  in  his  cups,  finds  himself 
locked  in  with  these  thronging  miserables,  and  spends  penitential  months 
in  honest  and  monotonous  labor.  These  crowded  prison-halls  are  an  exam- 
ple of  the  survival  of  the  unfittest,  —  a  sign  of  the  growth  of  a  fierce  and 
formidable  pauperism  under  conditions  where  it  has  no  place  and  no 
apology.  And  yet  —  for  each  convict's  elevation  and  purification  Paul 
labored,  and  Washington  fought,  and  (immeasurably  above  all  else)  Christ 
died. 


The  Deer-Island   Ferry-Horn,   Point  Shirley. 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  201 


JFort  OTarren,  tfje  %z^  of  tfje  $?artior, 

GEORGE'S  ISLAND. —  THE  GREAT  FORTRESS.  —  SOUTHERN  CHIEFTAINS.— 
GARRISON   LIFE. 

HE  granite-  and  iron-covered  George's  Island  is  a  little 
over  six  miles  from  Boston  (seven  by  the  channel),  and 
covers  35  acres,  defended  by  a  long  sea-wall,  and  rising 
to  a  bluff  50  feet  high  on  the  eastward.  It  is  about  a 
r  F^w"!^-]^  ^  third  of  a  mile  south  of  LovelFs  and  Gallop's  Islands, 
C  !5$I1  /JBslk'-'i?  and  a  mile  from  Hull.  The  main  ship-channel  flows 
close  under  it  on  the  north,  and  on  the  south  are  Nan- 
tasket  Roads.  The  present  name  was  given  nearly  two 
centuries  ago,  perhaps  in  honor  of  Captain  John  George, 
a  prominent  merchant  and  town  functionary  of  Boston  about  the  year  1710. 
The  chief  distinction  of  the  locality  at  the  present  time  is  the  fortress  which 
covers  the  greater  part  of  it,  and  is  one  of  the  most  formidable  defences  of 
the  eastern  seaboard. 

The  proprietary  history  of  George's  Island  may  be  stated  in  a  few  words. 
It  was  claimed  by  and  granted  to  James  Pemberton  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury; he  having  made  "proofe  vppon  oath,  according  to  law,  that  he  had 
possession  and  improvement  of  the  sd  iland  by  the  consent  &  approbation 
of  the  antient  inhabitants  or  planters  residents  in  or  about  the  Matachu- 
setts  Bay  above  fower  &  twenty  yeares  agoe."  From  his  family  it  passed 
into  the  possession  of  Samuel  Greenleaf,  whose  daughter  Hannah  sold  it 
to  Elisha  Leavitt,  in  17(35,  f°r  ^34°-  The  latter  bequeathed  the  island  to  his 
grandson,  Caleb  Rice  of  Hingham,  who  sold  it  to  the  United  States  in  1825. 
George's  was  so  far  from  the  Boston  of  the  Puritans  that  it  is  not 
conspicuous  in  the  town  and  colony  records,  and  received  but  few  and  infre- 
quent notices.  It  seems  to  have  been  an  appanage  of  the  fleet  rather  than 
of  the  colony,  and  all  its  old  associations  were  with  the  shipping.  On  a 
fair  August  day  in  1690,  Judge  Sewall  and  a  large  party  of  provincial  officers 
went  down  "to  see  the  Lieut.  Generail  Muster  his  Souldiers  on  Georges 
Island,"  and  also  inspected  the  fleet  lying  in  the  roads.  Soon  afterwards 
the  ships  and  regiments  sailed  away  to  Canada,  on  Phips's  unsuccessful 
expedition.  21  years  later,  when  Sir  Hovenden  Walker's  huge  squadron  and 
army  lay  in  the  Roads,  their  sick  men  were  landed  on  the  adjacent  islands, 
and  placed  in  impromptu  hospitals.  The  first  fortification  on  this  site  was 
erected  in  1778,  and  consisted  of  a  large  earthwork,  commanding  the  east- 


202  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

ern  approaches  to  Nantasket  Roads.  Its  object  was  to  protect  the  fleet  of 
the  Count  d'Estaing,  then  lying  at  anchor  in  the  harbor,  from  an  attack  by 
British  cruisers,  many  of  which  then  haunted  the  outer  sea.  Among  the 
French  ships  were  one  of  90  guns,  another  of  80,  and  six  of  74  each ;  huge 
floating  castles,  which  had  just  been  roughly  handled  by  Earl  Howe's  fleet 
off  Newport,  fighting  in  a  tempest.  Many  of  their  guns  were  landed  here 
to  arm  the  battery  with.  The  great  British  fleet  lay  off  the  harbor,  with 
Earl  Howe  and  Sir  Henry  Clinton  on  board,  and  had  some  design  of  dashing 
in  and  engaging  the  crippled  sea-lions  of  France  among  the  islands ;  but  the 
show  of  formidable  shore-batteries  deterred  them,  and  thus  an  event  which 
would  have  been  invaluable  for  this  Handbook  was  lost. 

All  the  marines  of  the  fleet,  and  large  detachments  of  sailors,  were 
landed  on  George's  and  at  Hull,  and  set  to  work  to  fortify  the  approaches 
to  the  channels  where  the  French  vessels  lay  at  anchor.  On  George's  they 
erected  six  mortars  and  two  batteries,  one  of  eleven  14-pounders,  and  the 
other  of  eight  18-  and  24-pounders,  which  could  cross  their  fire  with  the 
thirty-gun  fort  on  Nantasket.  The  largest  of  the  frigates  near  by  was 
the  Cesar,  which  had  60  men  killed  and  100  wounded  in  the  recent  naval 
battle,  and  now  floated  in  the  light-house  channel,  badly  cut  up. 

In  1778  there  were  pilots  living  on  George's,  for  Commodore  Tucker's 
log  speaks  of  them.  Twenty  years  afterwards  the  island  was  the  home  of 
Thomas  Crane,  who  had  a  stock-farm  here,  and  also  frequently  entertained 
parties  of  summer  excursionists.  Here  was  born  his  famous  son,  Thomas 
Crane,  who  dwelt  on  this  narrow  realm  for  seven  years,  and  often  revisited 
it  after  he  had  become  one  of  the  greatest  capitalists  of  New-York  City.  In 
May,  1882,  the  virtues  and  successes  of  this  typical  Yankee  were  made  the 
theme  of  a  noble  oration  by  the  younger  Charles  Francis  Adams. 

About  the  year  1833  the  National  Government  began  the  construction 
of  a  first-class  fortress  here,  to  command  the  approaches  to  the  harbor,  and 
cover  the  city  at  a  safe  fighting  distance.  In  August,  1847,  the  new  military 
works  were  inspected  by  Robert  J.  Walker,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
although  they  were  not  finished  until  about  three  years  afterwards.  Gen. 
Thayer,  who  designed  this,  and  the  other  modern  forts  hereabouts,  was  a 
native  of  Braintree,  and  for  many  years  Superintendent  of  West-Point 
Military  Academy.  The  United  States  kept  him  in  Europe  for  five  years, 
studying  the  Continental  fortresses  and  military  systems  ;  and  from  1833  to 
1857  he  was  the  constructing  engineer  of  the  defences  of  Boston.  When 
the  Secession  War  broke  out,  the  Government  felt  great  concern  because 
the  drawings  and  working-plans  of  Fort  Warren  could  not  be  found ;  but, 
after  Thayer's  death,  they  turned  up  between  the  leaves  of  one  of  the  huge 
old  volumes  of  his  military  library.  He  is  buried  at  West  Point;  and  the 
tower  of  the  handsome  academy  which  he  bequeathed  to  Braintree  is  con- 
picuous  from  many  points  in  the  harbor  of  Boston. 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


203 


In  [861  there  were  no  guns  mounted  on  the  fort;  but  Governor  Andrew 
hurried  the  Second  Battalion  of  State  troops  to  the  island,  and  applied  to 
Col.  Rodman  for  cannon.  Gen.  Peirce  commanded  here  in  May,  and  Gen. 
J.  Andrews  succeeded  him.  Great  labor  was  performed  by  the  volunteers,  to 
make  the  deserted  fort  formidable ;  for  the  State  authorities  had  lively  fears 
of  a  Southern  Armada  steaming  up  Nantasket  Roads,  to  demolish  the  city 
of  Charles  Sumner  and  Wendell  Phillips.  The  Cambridge,  Pembroke,  and 
other  vessels  sent  out  at  that  time  with  Massachusetts  troops,  were  well 
equipped  with  ordnance,  and  commissioned  as  armed  transports  ;  and  the 
State  school-ship  received  a  battery,  to  act  as  a  coast-guard.  Even  the 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  volunteered  their  services  "for 
coast  defence ; "  and  the  British  residents  of   Boston  formed  a  corps  for 


the  same  purpose.  The 
regulars,  scattered  by 
companies  over  a  terri- 
tory greater  than  the 
Fort  warren.  Roman      Empire,     had 

more  imminent  service 
to  perform ;  and  the  civilians  of  the  Puritan  capital  sprang  to  arms,  like 
their  ancestors,  the  minute-men,  and  worried  themselves  into  a  saving  knowl- 
edge of  the  use  of  great  guns. 

In  May,  June,  and  July,  1861,  the  Webster  Regiment  (12th  Mass.)  lay 
in  camp  here.  Five  of  its  companies  were  from  Boston,  one  from  Glouces- 
ter, and  four  from  the  Old  Colony.  Its  colonel,  the  son  of  Daniel  Webster, 
was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Groveton ;  and  eighteen  of  its  officers  died  from 
wounds  received  in  the  field.  The  thorough  training  given  within  these 
grim  fortress  walls  made  the  Twelfth  one  of  the  most  trusty  regiments  in 
the  hard-buffeted  Army  of  the  Potomac.  But  the  discipline  of  the  garrison, 
and  the  imposing  dimensions  of  the  Rodman  guns,  did  not  fully  comfort 


204  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  good  people  up  the  Bay.  Great  alarm  was  felt  at  the  defenceless  con- 
dition of  the  port;  and  the  General  Court  voted  $1,500,000  to  fortify  the 
Massachusetts  coast.  State  agents  in  London  purchased  many  heavy 
Blakely  guns  for  Fort  Warren,  which  were  afterwards  sold  to  Chili,  and 
helped  to  beat  off  the  Spanish  iron-clads  from  Valparaiso.  Just  after  the 
raid  of  the  rebel  iron-clad  Merrimac  down  Hampton  Roads,  the  National 
authorities  ordered  Governor  Andrew  to  seal  up  Boston  Harbor,  by  sinking 
hulks  at  its  entrance,  so  that  hostile  war-vessels  might  not  be  able  to  enter. 
This  panicky  despatch  passed  unheeded ;  but  a  complicated  and  ingenious 
system  of  obstructions  was  arranged,  so  that  the  harbor  could  be  blockaded 
from  within  at  very  short  notice.  It  did  not  tranquillize  the  perturbed  Bos- 
tonians  to  hear,  later  in  the  war,  that  Jeff  Davis  had  said,  at  Atlanta,  that 
the  Alabama  and  four  other  cruisers  were  about  to  run  into  Boston  Harbor, 
and  drop  a  few  shells  into  the  State  House.  He  added  that,  "The  forts 
may  try  to  play  ball  a  little,  but  the  ships  are  such  fast  sailers  they  will  not 
hurt  them  much." 

Meantime,  Col.  Justin  Dimick,  the  gallant  old  West-Point  officer  in 
command  at  Fort  Warren,  had  converted  his  militiamen  into  a  tolerably 
efficient  garrison.  As  colonel  of  the  First  Artillery  and  a  veteran  of  the 
Florida  and  Mexican  wars,  he  should  have  been  the  first  martinet  in  the 
army ;  but  he  preferred  to  look  upon  the  pranks  of  his  boys  with  a  kindly 
tolerance,  provided  their  military  duties  were  well  done.  It  happened, 
therefore,  that  from  this  happy  garrison  proceeded  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful influences  which  made  themselves  felt  in  the  national  armies  during  that 
long  and  weary  war.  The  famous  song  of  the  national  armies,  "John 
,/  Brown's  body  lies  mouldering  in  the  grave,"  was  composed,  and  first  sung, 
at  Fort  Warren,  by  the  glee  club  of  the  Second  Battalion  Light  Infantry,  in 
the  spring  of  1861.  It  was  adapted  to  an  old  Methodist  camp-meeting  tune, 
somewhat  altered  in  form ;  and  the  Brigade  Band  at  the  fort  was  the  first 
that  played  it.  The  singers  entered  the  Twelfth  Regiment,  which  marched 
through  Boston,  New  York,  and  Baltimore,  to  this  grand  chorus  from  a 
thousand  throats ;  and  the  music  ran  through  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
nor  ceased  until  grim  and  powder-blackened  choirs  had  chanted  it  in  Texas 
and  Alabama,  and  down  the  great  Mississippi,  and  on  all  the  flowery  coasts 
of  the  Gulf,  and  through  the  Carolinas,  and  along  the  streets  of  conquered 
Richmond.  From  Fort  Warren  came  the  Marseillaise  of  our  emancipating 
revolution.  As  Admiral  Preble  says,  "  Few  people,  aside  from  those  who 
kept  step  to  its  strains  when  leaving  home  for  the  battle-field,  and  sang  it 
around  the  smoky  camp-fire  during  the  long  dull  nights  and  days  of  army 
life,  know  the  extent  of  its  popularity,  and  the  deep  hold  it  took  upon  the 
soldier's  heart.  It  spread  from  regiment  to  regiment  like  wildfire.  No 
song  gained  so  firm  a  hold  upon  the  troops ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it  was 


ICING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


205 


sung  by  every  regiment  —  cavalry,  infantry,  and  artillery  —  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac." 

A  few  months  after  the  war  broke  out,  the  dreaded  rebels  began  to  pour 
into  the  fort  by  hundreds,  —  not  in  storming-parties,  but  as  prisoners  of 
war,  tributes  to  the  prowess  of  the  Northern  infantry.  Many  Confederate 
officers  and  civilians  of  high  rank  suffered  imprisonment  here  during  those 
terrible  years  of  fraternal  strife.  Prominent  among  these  were  Kane,  the 
chief  of  police  of  Baltimore  ;  Mayor  Brown ;  and  a  number  of  Virginians  from 
Fairfax  and  Loudon  Counties.  Other  civilians  who  were  under  suspicion 
of  disloyalty  were  immured  within  these  grim  walls,  side  by  side  with  the 
gray-uniformed  officers  who  had  been  swept  in  from  hotly  contested  battle- 


The  U.  S.   Frigate  "  Constitution 


fields.  Here  were  many  political  prisoners,  gathered  from  the  towns  of  the 
North,  and  charged  with  disloyalty  to  the  United  States.  Among  these 
appeared  Judge  Flanders  and  his  brothers,  of  Malone,  N.Y. ;  Robert  Elliott, 
of  Freedom,  Me. ;  Ex-Captain  H.  L.  Shields,  of  Bennington,  Vt. ;  Hon. 
P.  C.  Wright,  of  St.  Louis  ;  Wm.  H.  Winder,  of  Philadelphia ;  Dr.  MacGill, 
of  Baltimore;  and  several  members  of  the  Maryland  Legislature.  In  No- 
vember, 1861,  the  steamship  State  of  Maine  brought  here  from  Fort  Lafay- 
ette no  political  and  645  military  prisoners,  who  were  provided  with  snug 
quarters  in  the  casemates.  In  the  accounts  which  many  of  these  gentlemen 
have  written  of  their  life  in  Northern  Bastilles,  they  credit  Col.  Dimick  and 
his  Massachusetts  garrison  with  uniformly  kind  and  considerate  treatment, 


206  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

in  marked  contrast  with  the  regime  at  Fort  Lafayette.  Here  also  were  the 
famous  rebel  emissaries,  Mason  and  Slidell,  who  had  been  captured  by 
the  U.  S.  S.  San  Jacinto,  while  on  their  way  to  Europe  in  an  English  mail- 
steamer.  The  threatening  attitude  of  the  British  Government  compelled 
the  United  States  to  release  them;  and  on  the  morning  of  Jan.  i,  1862, 
the  garrison  was  paraded  under  arms,  with  their  backs  to  the  gate,  while  the 
prisoners  and  their  secretaries  were  conducted  to  the  wharf,  in  a  howling 
winter  storm.  They  were  carried  across  Massachusetts  Bay  in  the  tug 
Starlight,  to  Provincetown,  where  the  British  war-vessel  Rinaldo  took  them 
on  board.  During  the  dreary  weeks  which  they  spent  on  this  icy  strand, 
the  portly  and  jovial  Mason  and  his  lean  and  dyspeptic  companion  solaced 
themselves  by  unnumbered  rounds  of  poker,  and  swore  and  spat,  and  spat 
and  swore,  continually,  to  the  great  and  increasing  amazement  of  their 
orthodox  guardsmen.  A  horrible  little  triangular  dungeon  in  the  casemates 
was  long  occupied  by  Keene,  a  sailor  who  had  endeavored  to  blow  up  the 
U.S.  frigate  Congress,  with  all  on  board.  Many  other  prisoners  weve  incar- 
cerated in  the  demi-lune,  just  outside  the  main  gate  of  the  fort. 

There  were  800  Confederates  here  in  the  winter  of  1861-62,  most  of 
whom  had  been  captured  by  Burnside,  in  his  campaign  of  Roanoke  Island. 
It  was  found  necessary  to  maintain  a  vigilant  watch  down  the  Bay,  and  the 
outer  picket-line  had  orders  to  keep  off  all  boats.  The  garrison  from 
November,  1861,  to  May,  1862,  was  a  battalion  of  volunteers  from  Hing- 
ham,  Concord,  Boston,  and  Gloucester,  afterwards  converted  into  the 
Thirty-second  Massachusetts  Regiment,  and  full  of  heroic  deeds  at  the 
Second  Bull  Run,  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  Petersburg,  etc.  Gen.  Buckner, 
the  head  of  the  Kentuckian  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  was  sent  here 
in  February,  1862,  after  surrendering  Fort  Donelson  and  16,000  men  to 
Gen.  Grant ;  and  remained  in  captivity  until  the  end  of  the  summer.  Gen. 
Tilghman,  who  surrendered  Fort  Henry,  in  Kentucky,  was  also  imprisoned 
here  for  six  months.  Buckner,  an  old  West-Point  professor  and  Mexican 
veteran,  was  a  precise  type  of  the  "ramrod  soldier;"  but  Tilghman  was  a 
merry,  happy-go-lucky  fellow,  once  an  officer  in  the  old  Dragoon  Regiment, 
and  distinguished  for  services  at  Palo  Alto  and  Matamoras.  Less  than  a 
year  after  his  release,  he  was  killed  in  one  of  the  deadly  Mississippi  bat- 
tles. Through  the  long  and  dreary  winter,  when  the  island  was  covered 
with  glare  ice,  there  were  a  considerable  number  of  North-Carolinians  here 
in  duress;  and  an  unhappier  crowd  was  never  seen  in  Boston  Harbor.  In 
February  they  went  South  to  be  exchanged ;  and  their  places  were  occupied 
by  "  long,  gaunt  men,  given  to  wearing  sombrero  hats,  and  chewing  to- 
bacco,"—  the  Tennesseeans  captured  at  Fort  Donelson.  The  batteries  here 
fired  a  grand  salute  when  the  news  of  Grant's  victories  came  up;  but  it 
took  them  so  long  to  get  ready  that  (as  the  second  in  command  said)  "the 


KING'S  HAND  HOOK    OF   BOSTON  IfARHOR. 


207 


Alabama  might  have  steamed  into  Boston  Harbor  before  we  could  have 
brought  any  guns  to  bear  on  her."  The  entire  supply  o£  fixed  ammunition 
at  this  time  in  the  fort  was  thirty  rounds ;  and  when  the  Governor  came 
down  they  could  fire  no  salute,  for  lack  of  powder.  In  May,  1862,  the  gar- 
rison consisted  of  374  men,  including  the  Cadet  corps  from  Boston  and 
Salem;  and  held  under  guard  146  prisoners  of  war.  Among  these  was 
Gen.  John  Pegram,  captured  by  McClellan  in  West  Virginia,  and  after  his 
release  mortally  wounded  in  one  of  the  battles  near  Petersburg.  Still 
another  Virginian  visitor 

was    Admiral    Barron,  of  :  '    ~) 

the  Confederate  navy, 
who  passed  under  the 
yoke  at  Fort  Hatteras. 
Twelve  other  officers  of 
the  Southern  navy  shared 
his  captivity,  under  the 
dear  old  flag  which,  in 
spite  of  their  temporary 
wrong -headedness,  they 
must  have  always  loved, 
—  the  flag  of  their  own 
Washington  and  Jackson 
and  Scott  and  Taylor  and 
Decatur  and  Maury. 

In  May,  1862,  the  fort 
received  a  lot  of  prisoners 
from  the  battles  below 
New  Orleans,  including 
six  officers  of  the  rebel 
iron  -  clad  Louisiana, 
Gens.  Gautt  and  Hanson 
were  also  among  the  case- 
mate-lodgers ;  and  many 
officers  of  the  Texas,  Louisiana,  and  Tennessee  volunteers.  The  shivering 
Confederates  found  themselves  in  a  place  where  the  East  Wind  was  king, 
and  Cotton  had  no  regal  powers.  The  garrison,  by  education  comfortable 
townsmen,  who  had  never  felt  the  sleet  rattle  around  Mackinaw,  or  the  fur- 
nace-blasts of  the  gales  blowing  from  the  Gulf  around  Pensacola  and  the 
Tortugas,  endured  here  new  and  distressing  climatic  conditions.  The 
sentry-posts  were  often  made  untenable  by  the  dashing  of  the  waves,  and 
the  guards  had  to  be  replaced  by  patrols.  No  wonder  that  the  unfortunate 
sentinels  saw  mysterious  shapes,  so  that  an  order  was  posted  at  the  guard- 


The  Bug  Light  at  Low  Tide. 


208  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

house,  "denouncing  severe  punishment  in  any  case  where  ghosts  were 
allowed  to  pass  a  beat  without  challenge  and  arrest." 

Slowly,  as  this  vague  solution  of  town  train-bands  crystallized  into  dis- 
ciplined infantry,  the  men  found  new  themes  to  interest  them,  and  arouse  a 
genuine  military  enthusiasm.  In  Col.  F.  J.  Parker's  "Thirty-second  Regi- 
ment "  there  are  many  interesting  details  of  garrison-life  here,  and  stories 
of  bluff  old  Col.  Dimick.  He  says,  "  To  one  who  thoroughly  explores  the 
island,  there  will  recur  vivid  reminiscences  of  the  mysterious  castles  of 
romance  and  of  history.  He  will  find  here  a  sally-port,  a  postern,  a  draw- 
bridge, and  a  portcullis.  Here,  too,  are  passages  underground  and  in  the 
walls ;  turret  staircases,  huge  vaulted  apartments,  and  safe  and  dark  dun- 
geons. ...  It  only  needs  a  dark  and  windy  night  to  make  almost  real  the 
description  of  the  Castle  of  Udolpho,  with  its  clanging  sounds  of  chains, 
its  sweeping  gusts  of  air,  its  strange  moanings  and  howlings,  and  the  star- 
tling noise  of  some  sudden  clang  of  a  shutting  door  reverberating  through 
the  arches." 

The  militiamen  were  often  called  away  for  serious  service,  and  acted 
with  soldierly  steadiness  and  resolution.  When  Banks  was  driven  down 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  Stonewall  Jackson  menaced  Washington,  the 
garrison  of  Fort  Warren  was  hurried  to  the  front,  and  a  company  of  artil- 
lery from  Fort  Independence  took  its  place.  During  the  draft-riots  in  Bos- 
ton a  company  of  artillerists  from  Fort  Warren  was  in  the  thick  of  the 
fight  at  the  North  End.  At  the  close  of  1863  the  fort  contained  78  cannon ; 
including  30  32-pounders,  13  8-inch  and  4  15-inch  columbiads  in  barbette,  and 
16  8-inch  columbiads  and  14  100-pound  Parrott  rifles  in  casemates.  The 
garrison  was  composed  of  700  volunteer  artillerymen.  Four  months  later 
the  armament  consisted  of  101  guns.  Later  in  the  war  the  prisoners  in- 
cluded many  desperate  blockade-runners,  officers  of  Longstreet's  corps,  and 
guerrillas  from  Morgan's  command.  Major  Cabot's  battalion  garrisoned  the 
works,  and  guarded  these  captives,  172  in  number,  besides  giving  much 
attention  to  practice  with  the  great  guns.  An  order  to  send  this  command 
South  was  disregarded ;  as  it  was  feared  that  the  bright,  brave  fellows  in 
captivity  here,  among  whom  were  some  expert  artillerists,  might  possess 
themselves  of  the  fort,  and  empty  its  well-filled  magazines  against  Beacon 
Hill. 

In  August,  1863,  a  daring  attempt  at  escape  was  made.  Among  the 
prisoners  then  confined  in  the  casemates  were  the  officers  and  crews  of  the 
rebel  privateers  Tacony  and  Atlanta.  Of  these,  four  officers  and  two  others 
succeeded  in  squeezing  themselves  through  the  loophole  which  opened 
from  their  prison,  and  dropping  into  the  moat  at  night;  and  then,  skilfully 
evading  the  sentinels,  they  gained  the  shore.  Thomas  Sherman  and  Pryde, 
quarter-gunner  of  the   Tacony,  started  to  swim  across  to  Lovell's   Island ; 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  ///lA'/iOA'. 


209 


but  the  night  was  intensely  dark,  and  the  tide  ran  out  like  a  mill-race,  and 
neither  of  the  men  was  ever  heard  of  again.  Lieuts.  Thurston  and  Alex- 
ander, of  the  Atlanta,  crossed  to  Lovell's  on  a  rude  raft,  intending  to  capture 
a  boat,  and  return  for  their  comrades.  Reaching  the  shore  more  dead  than 
alive,  they  waited  there  until  their  strength  came  back,  and  then  rowed  out 
in  a  dory,  and  got  on  to  an  anchored  sailboat.  This  frail  craft  bore  them 
out  of  Boston  Harbor  at  gray  dawn,  and  they  were  well  down  on  the  Maine 
coast  before  a  United-States  revenue-cutter  overhauled  them.  Two  others,. 
Capt.  Reed  of  the  Tacony,  and  Major  Saunders  of  the  rebel  army,  waited 
by  the  shore  for  the  lieutenants  to  sail  in  for  them,  until  the  day  brokej, 


The  United-States  Revenue-Cutter. 


and  they  were  recaptured.  The  fort  was  at  that  time  still  commanded  by 
Col.  Dimick,  the  same  gallant  officer  who  preserved  Fortress  Monroe  from 
seizure  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

Among  the  guests  of  the  "  Yankee  Bastille  "  during  the  last  two  years  of 
the  war  were  Major-Gen.  Edward  Johnson,  captured  with  his  whole  division 
at  Spottsylvania ;  Gen.  Wm.  L.  Cabell  of  Virginia ;  Gen.  George  W.  Gor- 
don ;  Gen.  John  S.  Marmaduke  ;  Gen.  Henry  R.  Jackson  of  Georgia,  for- 
merly American  minister  at  Vienna;  Gen.  T.  B.  Smith;  Gen.  I.  R.  Trimble, 
who  lost  his  foot  at  Gettysburg  ;  and  Gen.  Adam  R.  Johnson.  Another 
restless  prisoner  was  Harry  Gilmour,  the  dashing  Baltimorean,  whose  cav- 
alry so  often  scurried  around  the  flanks  of  the  national  armies. 


2IO  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

The  most  serious  attack  upon  the  fortress  was  made  by  minions  of  the 
law  from  Boston,  bringing  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  release  a  political 
prisoner.  Being  refused  passage  on  the  Government  steamboat,  they  hired 
a  sailboat,  and  approached  the  island,  to  find  a  detachment  of  the  garrison 
on  the  wharf,  under  arms,  and  compelling  the  legal  invaders  to  keep  off  and 
return  to  town  empty-handed.  About  the  middle  of  April,  1865,  there  came 
to  the  island  a  large  group  of  officers  captured  by  Phil  Sheridan,  and  includ- 
ing Lieut.-Gen.  Ewell  and  Gens.  Eppa  Hunton,  Kershaw,  Barton,  Corse, 
Simms,  and  De  Bosc.  In  the  same  boat  came  the  rebel  Commodore 
Tucker,  and  several  other  officers.  During  the  following  June,  288  pris- 
oners of  war  were  released,  after  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  re- 
united Republic. 

In  1865  tne  fortress  received  no  less  a  prisoner  than  Alexander  H. 
Stephens,  the  Vice-President  of  the  Confederate  States,  who  remained  under 
guard  here  for  five  months.  His  fate  was  not  severe  ;  for  this  captivity  took 
place  in  the  summer  and  early  autumn,  and  was  solaced  by  many  kind  atten- 
tions from  the  gentlemen  of  Boston.  The  fallen  chieftain  philosophically 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Bible  and  of  Cicero,  probably  as  good 
companions  as  he  could  have  found  in  his  native  Georgia;  and  emerged 
from  this  season  of  politico-military  penance  to  become  a  true  and  valuable 
citizen  of  the  United  States.  He  was  the  last  'of  the  famous  prisoners  of 
state  here.  At  the  beginning  of  1864  Major  Stephen  Cabot  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Heavy  Artillery  was  in  command,  and  had  a  garrison  of  763  men 
and  131  prisoners  of  war.  In  September,  the  garrison  and  prisoners  remain- 
ing about  the  same  in  numbers,  Major  A.  A.  Gibson  of  the  3d  U.  S.  Artil- 
lery, took  command  of  the  post,  and  held  it  for  four  years.  Among  the 
regular  officers  who  have  since  governed  the  fort  have  been  Truman  Sey- 
mour, formerly  a  division-commander  in  Florida,  Carolina,  and  Virginia; 
Major  Andrews  of  the  5th  Artillery;  Major  Mendenhall,  of  the  1st  Artillery ; 
and  Lieut.-Col.  Clermont  L.  Best  of  the  4th  Artillery,  who  has  commanded 
the  post  from  November,  1879,  until  the  present  time. 

Fort  Warren  is  connected  with  the  city  by  the  U.S.  steamer  Resolute, 
Capt.  Loring,  which  makes  three  trips  each  way  daily,  all  the  year  round, 
between  Central  Wharf  and  the  fort-pier,  touching  at  the  upper  fortifica- 
tions if  there  is  occasion.  During  the  winter  the  little  boat  sometimes  has 
lively  work  in  battling  her  way  through  the  drifting  harbor-ice,  or  in  facing 
the  fierce  north-easters  which  sweep  down  the  Bay.  The  garrison  of  the 
fort  includes  the  famous  Battery  F,  4th  Artillery,  which  was  organized  in 
March,  1776,  and  in  1882  received  a  superb  guidon  of  red  and  white  silk, 
velvet,  and  gold  fringe,  from  the  grandson  of  its  first  captain,  Alexander 
Hamilton.  As  Gen.  Hancock  said,  in  presenting  the  flag,  "An  unbroken 
chain  of  honorable  and  valuable  services,  beginning  before  the   Declaration 


K/.'VG'S   HANDBOOK    OF   BOSTON   //AR/WR. 


2  1  I 


of  Independence,  and  extending  through  all  the  wars  of  the    United  Slates 
down  to  the  present  time,  runs  through  this  battery's  spotless  history." 

The  walls  of  the  fort  are  of  hammered  granite,  and  present  a  veryj  im- 
posing appearance,  frowning  over  thcTdeep  ditch,  and  cut, through  here/and 
there  by  loop-holes  for  musketry  and  flank  defence.  /The  main  wo^k  is 
surrounded  by  a  moat  fifty  feet  wide,  beyond  which  are  minor  outworks, —  a 
curtain  on  the  north,  a  ravelin  on  the  south,  and  a  formidable  water-battery 
on  the  north-west,  fairly  glowering  over  the  ship-channel.  The  fort  mounts 
300  guns4  70  of  which-can  concentrate  their  fire  on  any  point  in  the  channelT 
Of  course  there  are  vessels  afloat  that  could  live  through  such  an  attack, 
but  they  would  certainly  require  a  long  convalescence  and  careful  nursing 
afterwards.  After  passing  through  such  a  fiery  vortex,  they  would  perhaps 
hardly  yearn  to  encounter  the  enfilading  cannonade  of  the  inner  forts,  and 
the  reproaches    of  the    rubicund    Ancient   and 

Long:    Wharf.        ,.->'  • , 


J\ 


-  4  ' 


Honorable    Artillery    Corps    on 
The   enclosed  space  is  six    J 
acres,   of    which     the    parade-  / 
ground  covers  about  five  acres.  I 
The  great  pentagonal  fortress, 
with  its  bastions  at  each 
angle    (commanding   the 
ditches),  is  composed  of 
casemated     walls,     in 
which,  and  protected  by 
enormous  thicknesses  of 
masonry  and  earth,  bur- 
row the  barracks,  hospi- 
tal,   magazine,    store- 
houses,   ice-house,    cook 

and  mess  rooms,  cisterns,  and  a/battery  of  heavy  guns  facing  the  sea.  These 
arejfghted  from  .howitzer  embrasures,  musketry  loop-holes,  and  windows 
opening  on  the  parade.  The  walls,  with  their  casemates,  attain  a  thickness, 
of  sixty  feet.  The  officers'  quarters  are  two-story  stone  buildings  on  the 
north-west  side  of  the  parade ;  and  the  doors  nearest  the  portal  were  those 
leading  to  the  prisons  of  the  rebel  officers  and  prisoners  of  state.  Above  the 
casemates  are  the  ramparts,  sheltered  by  massive  parapets  and  traverses,  and 
sustaining  long  lines  of  10-  and  15-inch  gunT — A-s  rapidly  as  possible  the 
stone  faces  of  the  fort  are  being  masked  behind  outer  ramparts  of  earth,  into 
which  the  largest  missiles  "may  sink  harmlessly.  The  granite  walls  them- 
selves could  hardly  stand  a  dozen  modern  broadsides.  The  channel  at  this 
point  has  well  been  called  "  an  ocean  Thermopylae,"  and  merits  a  worthy 
defence.      The   South-Boston   Iron  Company   have  made  preparations  for 


Rocks  on  the  Outer   Islands. 


212  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

manufacturing  for  this  fort  one  or  two  54-ton  breech-loading  rifle  cannon,  30 
feet  long,  and  of  enormous  power.  It  is  uncertain,  however,  when  the 
armament  will  be  increased.  The  huge  guns  now  mounted  are  not  valued 
for  their  long  range  or  penetrating  power,  but  have  a  well-won  reputation 
for  delivering  an  almost  irresistible  smashing  fire,  which,  at  the  short  range 
of  the  ship-channel,  would  be  exceedingly  destructive,  even  to  iron-clads. 
They  are  mounted  in  pairs,  with  impenetrable  traverses  protecting  each 
couple,  and  have  the  best  atmospheric  appliances  for  preventing  dangerous 
recoil.  Here  and  there  are  rifled  Parrott  guns  of  the  heaviest  calibre,  whose 
power  of  piercing  is  counted  upon  to  complement  the  crushing  blows  of 
the  Rodman  missiles.  In  the  water-batteries,  great  numbers  of  10-inch 
guns  are  placed  as  closely  together  as  the  carronades  in  an  old-fashioned 
ship's  broadside;  too  close  to  be  adequately  worked,  but  making  a  very  im- 
posing line  of  iron  for  the  contemplation  of  passing  yachtsmen  and  in-bound 
steamships. 

The  garrison  is  concentrated  United  States,  —  an  island  of  pure  nation- 
alism. The  half-score  of  officers,  whose  families  and  pets  and  flowers  make 
bright  home-lights  amid  the  gloomy  granite  walls,  are  before  all  else  Ameri- 
cans,—  not  Virginians,  nor  New-Yorkers,  nor  Texans.  Each  of  them  is  a 
man  without  a  State,  without  a  city,  but  with  all  centred  in  the  Republic. 
Among  them  are  veterans  of  Mexico  and  the  South,  and  former  officers  of 
garrisons  in  Alaska  and  Arizona,  and  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  for  a. 
thousand  miles.  They  are  here  this  year  ;  next  year  they  may  be  at  Fort 
Jefferson,  or  among  the  Texan  lagoons,  or  back  on  the  Columbia  River. 
The  child  that  is  born  at  Alcatraz  cuts  his  teeth  at  Fortress  Monroe,  learns 
his  letters  at  Fort  Marion,  wears  his^first  boots  below  New  Orleans,  and 
mounts  his  first  pony  in  the  South  Park  of  Colorado.  There  is  small  space 
for  local  attachments  to  grow.  Meanwhile  the  officers,  transplanted  from 
one  sea-girt,  rock-walled  fortress  to  another  a  thousand  leagues  away,  lose 
their  sectional  pre-dispositions,  and  become  United-States  men,  and,  second- 
arily, Fourth-Artillery  men,  or  Tenth-Infantry  men,  or  what  not.  One  can 
imagine  them,  in  their  snug  quarters  under  the  ramparts,  discussing  the  ' 
defence  of  Fort  McHenry,  or  the  siege  of  Mexico,  or  repeating  traditions 
of  the  Legion  of  the  West  and  the  wars  among  the  Everglades.  Then- 
children,  the  curly-headed  cherubs  now  romping  across  the  parade-ground, 
or  peeping  through  the  sally-port,  when  they  grow  old  and  gray,  and  com- 
mand American  posts  on  Hudson's  Bay  or  the  Bay  of  Campeachy,  under  a 
flag  of  a  hundred  stars,  may  tell  their  legends  of  the  War  of  the  Great 
Rebellion,  with  Grant  and  Sherman  and  Sheridan  as  their  demi-gods,  and 
the  Fourth  Artillery  as  their  vengeful  Spartans. 

Regardless  of  the  opinions  which  military  and  naval  persons  may  enter- 
tain about  this  bristling  fastness,  the  peaceful  literati  who  densely  populate 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  2T3 

the  adjacent  towns  have  looked  upon  this  scene  with  varying  minds.  In 
Dominie  Brown's  ancient  poems  of  the  harbor,  this  ^apostrophe  scintil- 
lates :  — 

"  Of  George's  Isle  ;  oh,  muse,  now  speak, 
Whose  lofty  southern  shore 
Secures  a  ship  from  whirlwinds  bleak, 
Until  the  storm  is  o'er. 


"  When  the  poor  sailor,  wet  and  cold, 
And  with  fatigue  opprest ; 
This  happy  island  does  behold, 
He  happy  feels  and  blest." 


In  Hovey's  "  Causerie,"  there  is  a  funny  account  of  "a  solitary  soldier 
who  stands  guard  down  at  the  end  of  the  sandbar  that  makes  the  tip  end 
of  the  island  that  Fort  Warren  stands  upon.  Sailing  by,  the  other  day, 
Causeur  was  commenting  on  the  uselessness  of  keeping  a  man  standing 
there  broiling  in  the  hot  sun,  with  nothing  whatever  to  do  but  lug  his  mus- 
ket up  and  down  the  beach.  '  Nothing  to  do ! '  exclaimed  his  companion. 
'  Don't  you  suppose  he's  got  to  protect  government  property  ?  Just  let  a 
clam  stick  his  head  up  anywhere,  and  he'd  shoot  it  off  quicker'n  scat. 
Government  property's  got  to  be  protected,  I  tell  you.' " 

In  a  different  mood  of  Concordian  objurgation,  when  passing  Fort  War- 
ren, Tljoxeau  anathematized  it  as  "  a  bungling  contrivance.  Wolfe  sailed 
by  the  strongest  fort  in  North  America,  in  the  dark,  and  took  it.  .  .  .  All 
the  great  seaports  are  in  a  boxing  attitude ;  and  you  must  sail  prudently 
between  two  tiers  of  stony  knuckles  before  you  come  to  feel  the  warmth  of 
their  breasts." 

After  poetic  pathos,  and  broad  fun,  and  crusty  philosophy,  we  may  be 
refreshed  by  Howells's  kindly  picture  of  the  two  Boston  forts :  "  of  the  air 
of  soft  repose  that  hangs  about  each  ;  of  that  exquisite  military  neatness 
which  distinguishes  them ;  of  the  green,  thick  turf  covering  the  escarp- 
ments ;  of  the  great  guns  loafing  on  the  crests  of  the  ramparts,  and  looking 
out  over  the  water  sleepily ;  of  the  sentries  pacing  slowly  up  and  down, 
with  their  gleaming  muskets." 

Once  more,  how  daintily  Charles  Dudley  Warner  touches  the  popular 
sentiment  with  regard  to  the  locality,  saying:  "  What  a  beautiful  harbor  it 
is,  everybody  says,  with  its  irregularly  indented  shores,  and  its  islands  ! 
The  day  is  simply  delicious  when  we  get  away  from  the  unozoned  air 
of  thejajid;  The  sky  is  cloudless,  and  the  water  sparkles  like  the  top  of 
a  glass  of  champagne.  We  intend,  by  and  by,  to  sit  down  and  look  at  it  for 
half  a  day,  basking  in  the  sunshine  and  pleasing  ourselves  with  the  shifting 
and  dancing  of  the  waves.     Now  we  are  busy  running  about  from  side  to 


214 


KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


side,  to  see  the  islands, —  Governor's,  Castle,  Long,  Deer,  and  the  others. 
When,  at  length,  we  find  Fort  Warren,  it  is  not  nearly  so  grim  and  gloomy 
as  we  had  expected,  and  is  rather  a  pleasure-place  than  a  prison  in  appear- 
ance. We  are  conscious,  however,  of  a  patriotic  emotion,  as  we  pass  its 
green  turf  and  peeping  guns." 

Fort  Warren  is  perhaps  the  most  interesting  object  in  the  lower  harbor, 
—  not  so  much,  indeed,  for  what  it  has  been,  or  is,  as  for  what  it  represents, 
and  may  be.  There  is  no  other  garrison  of  the  United-States  Army  in  the 
Commonwealth ;  and  no  other  point  so  insures  the  security  of  the  Yankee 
metropolis.  At  present,  it  is  regarded  mainly  as  a  notable  object  in  the  sail 
down  the  harbor ;  and  has  a  keen  interest  for  thousands  of  people  who  pass 
the  summer  in  its  vicinity,  and  nightly  hear  its  evening  guns,  and  see  the 
splendid  garrison-flag  sink  downward,  flaming  in  the  last  rays  of  the  setting 
sun.  Here  and  there  among  these  are  gray  old  citizens,  prosperous  mer- 
chants, or  professional  men  of  Boston,  who  start  up  involuntarily  as  the 
blare  of  the  fort-bugles-^oats  across  Nantasket  Roads,  remembering  long- 
past  echoesof  the  same  wild  melodies  on  the  red  plains  of  Virginia  or 
among  the  jungles  of  Louisiana. 


KING'S  HANDBOOK   Of  BOSTON  JI ARBOR.  2  I  5 


&jje  SttrkBeaten  Bretoster  Mantis. 

THE    LIGHT-HOUSE. -THE  MIDDLE  AND    OUTER   BREWSTERS.  —  THE  GRAVES. 
—  THE  OUTER  ISLANDS. 

UT  at  the  mouth  of  Boston  Harbor,  between  the  main  ship- 
channel  and  Broad  Sound,  is  a  group  of  seven  picturesque 
rocky  islands,  called  the  Brewsters,  and  nearly  two  miles 
in  length  from  north  to  south.  Near  them  are  many  sub- 
merged rocks  and  ledges,  some  of  which  are  full  of  peril 
to  mariners,  while  others  are  famous  as  fishing-grounds. 
Here,  indeed,  one  may  realize,  the  year  round,  what  Charles 
Kingsley  meant,  when  he  said :  "  New  England  is,  in  winter  at  least,  the 
saddest  country,  —  all  brown  grass,  ice-polished  rocks  sticking  up  through 
the  copes,  cedar  scrub,  low  swampy  shores,  —  an  iron  land  which  only 
iron  people  could  have  settled  in.  The  people  must  have  been  heroes  to 
make  what  they  have  of  it." 

Scientific  persons  have  stated  that  this  group  of  sea-swept  rocks  is  the 
debris  and  foundations  of  an  ancient  island,  larger  than  any  now  in  the  har- 
bor, which  once  occupied  this  area,  and  has  been  destroyed  by  the  storms 
of  immemorial  ages.  They  received  their  name  about  the  year  1621,  in 
honor  of  the  famous  Elder  Brewster,  at  whose  house  in  Scrooby  the  primi- 
tive Pilgrim  church  used  to  meet,  before  its  flight  to  Holland  and  then  to 
America.  He  was  for  years  the  only  preacher  and  teacher  at  Plymouth, 
and  enjoyed  the  highest  respect  among  his  austere  brethren.  The  islands 
were  granted  to  Hull  in  1641 ;  and  eleven  years  later  to  Leverett  (afterwards 
Governor  of  Massachusetts),  in  compensation  for  money  which  his  patriotic 
father  put  "  into  the  common  stocke  in  the  beginning  of  this  plantation." 
Somewhat  later  the  General  Court  restored  them  to  Hull,  giving  Major 
Leverett  a  better  and  less  inaccessible  domain;  and  in  1686  manner  Coomes 
of  Hull  sold  the  entire  archipelago  to  John  Loring,  for  ^4.  It  would  seem 
that  Mr.  Loring  got  the  worst  of  such  a  bargain. 

Charles  Dudley  Warner  says  that  "  these  outer  islands  look  cold  and 
wind-swept  even  in  summer,  and  have  a  hardness  of  outline  which  is  very 
far  from  the  aspect  of  summer  isles  in  summer  seas.  .  .  .  Upon  the  low 
[adjacent]  shore-line,  which  lies  blinking  in  the  mid-day  sun,  the  waves  of 
history  have  beaten  for  two  centuries  and  a  half,  and  romance  has  had  time 
to  grow  there."  Here,  on  the  stern  outer  guards  of  the  metropolis,  amid 
the  wild  wash  of  the  waves,  one  may  read  with  understanding  Stedman's 


2l6  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

magnificent   "The   Lord's   Day  Gale,"   and   comprehend   its   thrilling   re- 
frain :  — 

"  New  England  !  New  England  ! 

Thou  lovest  well  thine  ocean  main  ! 

It  spreadeth  its  locks  among  thy  rocks, 

And  long  against  thy  heart  hath  lain  ; 

Thy  ships  upon  its  bosom  ride, 

And  feel  the  heaving  of  its  tide ; 

To  thee  its  secret  speech  is  plain." 

The  Great  Brewster,  the  innermost  island,  is  mainly  composed  of  a  lofty 
and  conspicuous  bluff,  half  of  which  has  been  eaten  away  by  the  sea.  It 
covers  about  twenty-five  acres,  and  has  a  stone  wharf,  a  bit  of  ancient  ruin, 
and  the  summer-villa  of  the  Hon.  Benjamin  Dean.  A  contented  family 
lives  on  the  island  throughout  the  entire  year.  Further  encroachments  of 
the  waves  have  been  checked  by  a  noble  sea-wall,  built  by  the  United  States, 
at  great  cost.  The  projection  of  Little  Hill  has  been  nearly  worn  away  by 
the  sea,  and  now  contains  only  an  acre  and  a  half.  Rich  grass  and  clover 
cover  the  bluff,  and  columbines  and  other  dainty  flowers  thrive.  The  view 
from  the  crest  is  very  impressive,  and  gives  a  bird's-eye  prospect  of  these 
rocky  islets.  A  curving  gravelly  ridge,  ij  miles  long,  and  covered  at  high 
tide,  runs  thence  to  the  Bug  Light ;  and  a  short  bar,  which  may  be  traversed 
at  low  water,  leads  to  the  Light-House  Island.  The  Great  Brewster  was 
bought  by  the  city  of  Boston  in  1848,  for  $4,000;  and  the  part  which  lies 
about  the  sea-wall  pertains  to  the  United  States.  Mr.  Dean  has  leased  the 
island  from  the  city,  and  spends  parts  of  his  summers  here. 

The  Bug  Light  stands  on  the  end  of  the  long  bar  which  runs  out  from 
the  Great  Brewster,  rising  from  the  water  at  low  tide  like  a  great  wall,  and 
sometimes  traversed  by  pedestrians  along  its  entire  distance.  It  is  a  snug- 
little  house,  on  heavy  iron  supports,  like  stilts,  and  sustains  a  fixed  red 
light,  visible  for  seven  miles.  It  was  built  in  1856,  to  warn  vessels  against 
the  dangerous  Harding's  Ledge,  which  lies  off  Point  Allerton.  One  of  the 
best  studies  which  Halsall  has  painted  represents  this  picturesque  beacon, 
in  the  midst  of  the  roaring  sea.  At  one  time,  when  shepherds  followed 
their  calling  on  these  islands,  a  large  flock  of  sheep  were  driven  out  on 
the  bar  by  excited  dogs,  and  kept  there,  huddled  together  in  terror,  until  the 
rising  tide  drowned  them  all.  The  Light-House  Island,  once  known  as 
the  Little  Brewster,  or  Beacon  Island,  is  a  trifle  over  eight  miles  from  Bos- 
ton, and  about  1^  miles  north  of  Point  Allerton,  across  the  main  ship 
channel.  As  early  as  the  year  1679  there  was  some  kind  of  a  beacon  on 
the  Great  Brewster;  for  Dankers  and  Sluyter,  the  Dutch  Labadist  envoys, 
said  that  they  observed  one  on  the  highest  of  the  islands,  twelve  miles  from 
Boston,  which  could  be  seen  from  a  great  distance.     In  17 13  the  Bostonians 


A'/JVG'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.       2 1 J 


BOSTON    LIGHT. 


218  KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

began  to  hold  town-meetings  about  establishing  a  beacon  at  the  mouth  of 
the  harbor,  since  its  want  "  hath  been  a  great  discouragement  to  navigation, 
by  the  loss  of  the  lives  and  estates  of  several  of  His  Majesties  Subjects." 
The  General  Court  ordered  its  construction,  and  provided  that  all  vessels 
coming  in  from  abroad,  or  clearing  therefor,  should  pay  a  penny  a  ton 
towards  the  cost.  This  was  in  the  first  year  of  King  George  I.'s  reign. 
Hull  granted  the  island  for  this  purpose,  "being  censable  that  it  will  be  a 
genarall  benifit  to  Trade ; "  and  the  light-house  was  built,  at  a  cost  of 
.£2,386.  The  first  keeper  of  the  light  was  George  Worthylake,  who  was 
drowned  while  sailing  up  to  town,  with  his  wife  and  daughter,  in  1718.  All 
three' were  buried  on  Copp's  Hill;  and  Benjamin  Franklin,  then  a  North- 
End  lad,  wrote  a  doleful  poem  describing  their  fate,  and  entitled  "  The 
Light-House  Tragedy." 

About  the  middle  of  the  last  century  an  ingenious  system  of  guarding 
the  port  was  devised,  whereby  the  men  stationed  at  the  light-house  should 
signal  to  Castle  Island  the  approach  of  suspicious  or  hostile  vessels  by 
hoisting  and  lowering  the  Union  Jack.  If  the  number  of  these  unwelcome 
craft  reached  four,  the  Castle  alarmed  the  town,  and  then  the  flaming  torches 
on  Beacon  Hill  called  in  the  country  yeomanry.  In  this  manner  Boston 
was  given  six  hours  in  which  to  parade  her  train-bands  and  man  her  bat- 
teries. 

There  was  hot  fighting  hereabouts  in  the  summer  of  1775.  Major  Vose, 
of  Heath's  Continental  regiment,  landed  here  from  whale-boats,  under  the 
fire  of  the  British  frigates  and  barges,  and  took  seven  prisoners,  besides 
burning  the  barn  on  the  Great  Brewster,  and  partly  destroying  the  light- 
house. Another  and  more  serious  attack  was  made  a  few  days  later,  by 
Major  Tupper  and  300  Continentals,  who  stormed  the  little  redoubt,  killing 
and  wounding  12  men,  and  capturing  2  cannon,  33  marines,  and  a  party  of 
carpenters.  But  the  tide  went  out,  and  left  their  boats  high  and  dry;  and 
several  good  American  soldiers  were  lost  in  fighting  the  man-of-war  barges 
which  pounced  down  upon  them.  At  last  they  got  afloat,  and  rushed  across 
the  channel  to  Hull,  covered  by  the  fire  of  the  Yankee  guns  there,  which 
sank  one  of  the  hostile  barges.  In  general  orders,  Washington  commended 
Tupper's  men  for  "  their  gallant  and  soldier-like  behavior ;  "  and  Col.  Barre 
rose  in  the  British  Parliament,  to  complain  that  "they  burn  even  the  light 
house,  under  the  nose  of  the  fleet,  and  carry  off  the  men  sent  to  repair  it." 
The  light-house  built  in  1716  was  repaired  in  1757,  after  a  fire,  and  stood 
until  1776,  when  it  was  blown  up  by  the  retreating  British  marines,  having 
been  held  by  them  for  three  months  after  the  evacuation  of  Boston.  The 
present  structure  was  erected  in  1783,  and  is  98  feet  above  the  sea-level. 

The  island  is  not  so  grim  as  it  appears  from  the  channel,  whence  it 
appears  foreshortened.     There  are  three  acres  of  ground,  with  a  neat  vege- 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


2I9 


table-garden ;  and  it  is  a  brisk  little  walk  from  the  light-house  to  the  house 
where  the  keepers  and  their  families  live,  or  to  the  wharf  where  boats  make 
landing.  The  light-keeper,  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  wars,  keeps  his  snug 
principality  with  military  order  and  precision,  and  has  a  profound  and  loving 
admiration  for  the  great  night-signal  which  seems  the  raison  d'etre  of  the 
island.  The  lantern  is  a  very  costly  piece  of  French  workmanship,  con- 
taining 336  pieces  of  glass,  and  protected  from  the  weather  by  great  windows 
of  thick  and  clear  plate-glass.  Nothing  can  be  allowed  to  dim  this  outer 
window;  and  the  snow,  driving  against  it  on  winter  nights,  must  be  fre-. 
quently  cleared 
away,  so  that 
the  brilliant 
beams  may 
shine  out  unim- 
peded.  The 
light  is  a  re- 
volving one, 
and  is  visible 
for  sixteen 
miles  in  clear 
weather.  Near 
the  light-house 
is  a  great  steam 
fog-horn,  whose 
dismal  bellow- 
ings  warn  the 
mariners  for 
leagues  off- 
shore, in  thick 
weather.     The 

ancient  minute-gun,  which  this  more  powerful  appliance  has  superseded,  rusts 
bv  the  shore.  Occasionally  the  wharf  is  visited  by  a  swarm  of  boarding-house 
runners,  in  long-boats,  who  dash  out  thence  upon  foreign  vessels  entering 
the  Roads,  to  lure  the  sailors  to  their  dens  in  the  North  End.  These  are 
the  stuff  that  pirates  are  made  of,  —  bronzed  and  scarred  fellows,  with  sinis- 
ter faces,  and  language  which  the  Puritans  would  have  hung  them  for. 

Hence  the  shapely  pilot-boats  are  seen,  cruising  out  and  in,  and  towards 
the  capes,  and  in  their  fair  symmetry  meriting  the  eulogy  given  by  Capt. 
Basil  Hall,  of  the  Royal  Navy:  "Our  ingenious  friends,  the  Americans, 
have  contrived  a  set  of  pilot-boats  which  are  the  delight  of  every  sailor.  .  .  . 
They  are  truly  '  water-witches  ; '  for,  while  they  look  so  delicate  and  fragile 
that  one  feels  at  first  as  if  the  most  moderate  breeze  must  brush  them  from 


On  the  Outer   Brewster. 


220  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  face  of  the  ocean,  and  scatter  to  the  winds  all  their  gay  drapery,  they 
can  and  do  defy,  as  a  matter  of  habit  and  choice,  the  most  furious  gales  with 
which  the  rugged  seaboard  of  America  is  visited  in  February  and  March." 

The  Middle  Brewster  is  a  high  and  rocky  islet,  with  about  ten  acres-  of 
arable  soil  hidden  behind  its  cliffs ;  and  the  groups  of  fishermen's  red- 
roofed  houses,  and  the  tall  white  summer-house  of  Mr.  Augustus  Russ, 
perched  on  the  highest  point,  make  a  pleasant  picture  amid  the  surrounding 
desolation.  Forty  years  ago  there  were  no  houses  on  the  rock ;  but  subse- 
quently a  small  colony  of  fishermen  settled  here,  by  their  favorite  fishing- 
grounds,  and  not  without  occasional  chances  at  wrecking.  Here,  also,  the 
patrician  yachtsmen  and  other  guests  enjoy  ease  with  dignity  during  the 
dog-days,  and  are  entertained  with  free  hospitality  in  the  Russ  villa. 
The  snug  little  steamer  Galatea  is  used  by  the  proprietor  in  making  trips 
to  and  from  his  island-home.  Halsall,  the  marine-painter,  has  spent  many 
months  here :  and  often  visits  the  locality  in  the  most  inclement  winter 
season,  as  well  as  during  the  lovely  summer  days,  finding  true  artistic  values 
in  all  views  of  the  sea  at  this  close  angle.  Notman,  the  photographer,  has 
spent  two  seasons  on  this  secluded  islet,  attracted  by  the  peculiar  grandeur 
of  the  scenery,  which  has  been  likened  to  parts  of  the  rocky  coast  of  Corn- 
wall. Only  a  single  fisherman  now  lives  here,  and  the  houses  of  his  former 
companions  have  been  endowed  with  enough  of  piazzas  and  dormer-windows 
to  make  them  available  as  summer-cottages.  On  the  southerly  side  is  the 
only  good  landing,  made  by  removing  the  surface-rocks,  and  leaving  a  bit 
of  beach,  sheltered  by  an  outlying  reef.  The  narrow  and  rather  difficult 
passage  between  the  Middle  and  Outer  Brewsters  is  known  as  the  Flying 
Place,  and  foams  like  a  caldron  when  a  heavy  sea  is  on.  In  1828  the  brig 
Jachiu,  bound  in  from  St.  Martha,  with  a  full  cargo,  got  tangled  among 
these  rocks  in  midwinter,  and  was  wrecked  on  the  Middle  Brewster,  with 
loss  of  life. 

About  ten  years  ago  the  Middle  Brewster  was  owned  by  three  fisher- 
men in  undivided  thirds,  and  their  rights  were  bought  up  by  Mr.  Russ.  A 
small  corner  still  belongs  to  one  of  these  toilers  by  the  sea ;  and  the  re- 
mainder pertains  to  the  above-mentioned  gentleman,  who  reserves  this 
marine  park,  enwalled  by  the  Atlantic,  for  his  summer  home.  Here  the 
long  sunny  days  glide  away  very  peacefully,  while  the  great  fleets  pass  in 
and  out  through  the  adjacent  channel,  each  with  its  own  story  of  distant 

seas. 

"  Yon  deep  bark  goes  O  happy  ship, 

Where  Traffic  blows  To  rise  and  dip, 

From  lands  of  sun  to  lands  of  snows  :                       With  the  blue  crystal  at  your  lip  ! 

This  happier  one,  O  happy  crew, 

Its  course  is  run  My  heart  with  you 

From  lands  of  snow  to  lands  of  sun.  Sails,  and  sails,  and  sings  anew  !  " 


KING  'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


22  I 


The  view  from  the  flagstaff,  on  the  highest  point  of  the  island,  includes 
a  vast  horizon  of  sea,  with  the  rugged  adjacent  islands,  the  inland  hills  of 
Saugus  and  the  Middlesex  Fells,  and  the  crowded  highway  of  nations  close 
at  hand.  The  geological  structure  of  these  islands  is  very  interesting  to 
scientific  persons ;  since  it  has  no  affinity  with  that  of  the  contiguous  main- 
land, but  represents,  with  its  dark  granites  and  porphyries,  a  totally  differ- 
ent epoch  of  the  building  of  the  world. 

The  Outer  Brewster  is  a  pile  of  frowning  rocks,  enclosing  several  acres 
of  fertile  soil,  in  which  is  a  fine  spring  of  fresh  water.  Dr.  Shurtleff  says 
that  "  this  island  is  one  of  the  most  romantic  places  near  Boston,  far 
surpassing  Nahant  in  its  wild  rocks,  chasms,  caves,  and  overhanging 
cliffs."  Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  use  the  rocks  of  the  Outer 
Brewster  for  building  purposes ;  and  a  massive  little  edifice  on  City 
Square,  Charlestown,  is  walled 
with  this  sea-soaked  material. 
There  is  a  pond  on  the  island, 
attaining,  in  rainy  weather, 
very   respectable    dimensions. 

The     right-hand    side    of  r-'  '      ^  i|l^ll§|W  IJf 

the   western    cove    has   a      '">  JlllSlp^'%^  $pi 

singular  rock -forma- 
tion, called  the  Pul- 
pit, from  which  the 
Rev.  East  Wind  de- 
livers very  powerful 
addresses.  In  the 
northern  cove  are  the 
remains  of  the  un- 
finished canal,  cut 
through  the  rock  by 
the  late  Gen.  Austin,  with  some  wild  idea  of  forming  an  artificial  harbor. 
It  once  had  a  gate  at  its  entrance,  and  made  a  tight  and  secure  little  dock. 
Mr.  T.  Dean's  description  is  the  best  ever  written  of  it:  "In  truth,  it  is 
a  noble  island.  Its  jutting  rocks  and  cavernous  recesses  were  now  invisi- 
ble ;  but  its  grand  position  and  imposing  front,  as  it  stood  darkly  revealed 
against  the  cloudy  sky,  seemed  to  give  it  a  heroic  charm.  The  ocean- 
waves  approaching  Boston  here  meet  the  foremost  champion  of  the  port. 
Majestic  and  alone  it  stands  forth  on  the  '  perilous  edge  of  battle  when 
it  rages,'  and  sternly  encounters  the  maddened  billows  which  seek  another 
prey.  Even  now  the  seas  came  stealing  along  its  rugged  side,  making 
a  line  of  white,  again  and  again  bursting  into  spray  as  they  met  some 
vexatious  rock.     We  neared  the  canal.     This  is  a  deep  fissure  extending 


WwiSTul^^tfy.  OffrtteG-f^VES- 


222  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

across  the  eastern  part  of  the  island.  The  northerly  end  forms  a  long, 
deep,  aisle-like  gap  in  the  Brewster,  with  sufficient  depth  of  water,  when  the 
tide  is  up,  to  float  quite  a  craft  well  within  the  limits  of  the  island.  On  the 
seaward  side  of  the  entrance,  rugged,  isolated  rocks  break  somewhat 
the  force  of  the  seas ;  but,  in  a  troublous  time,  they  seem  only  to  fret  and 
aggravate  the  jealous  waves.  It  was  not  without  difficulty  that  we  found 
the  entrance ;  but  at  last  we  entered  safely,  and  rowed  slowly  up  the  watery 
path  of  the  canal.  The  sound  of  the  waves  diminished  as  we  advanced ; 
and  when  at  last  our  skiff  gently  touched  the  shore  within  the  walls  of  rock 
that  had  opened  to  receive  us,  the  grating  of  her  bow  upon  the  shingle  was 
the  only  sound  we  heard.  Stepping  ashore,  we  gazed  about  us.  Here,  at 
the  end  of  inland  navigation,  the  canal  expanded  into  a  little  cove,  favored 
with  water  only  at  the  higher  stages  of  the  tide,  and  having  a  ribbon  of 
shingly  beach.  The  stillness  was  oppressive.  We  were  on  the  leeward 
side  of  the  island,  where  the  wind  came  shorn  of  its  strength,  down  low 
between  the  lofty  walls  of  rock.  No  trees  were  nigh,  to  rustle  in  the  breeze, 
nor  grasses  tall  to  bend  and  sigh.  Even  the  sound  of  the  waves  at  the 
entrance  of  the  canal  seemed  to  the  ear  like  the  far-off  murmur  heard  in 
ocean-shells.  The  softly-heaving  bosom  of  the  water,  the  breathing  of  the 
Titanic  sea,  apparent  even  here,  alone  relieved  the  death-like  stillness." 

When  Gen.  Austin  owned  the  island,  about  the  year  1840,  and  took  from 
it  the  stone  used  in  macadamizing  the  Warren  Bridge,  there  were  two  or 
three  inhabitants  here,  with  six  head  of  cattle  and  fifty  sheep.  The  house 
was  afterwards  burnt  by  rowdies  from  Boston.  About  the  year  1861  a  fish- 
erman named  Jeffers  came  to  this  solitary  islet,  with  his  wife  and  children, 
and  built  a  rude  dwelling  near  the  rocky  lines  of  House  Beach.  On  a  ter- 
rible November  night,  as  he  was  trying  to  get  to  his  home,  in  a  dory,  with 
two  men  from  the  Middle  Brewster,  the  frail  craft  was  wrecked  near  the 
mouth  of  the  canal,  and  Jeffers  and  one  of  his  companions  sank  in  the 
roaring  sea.  The  stricken  widow  soon  afterwards  left  the  island,  and  their 
house  was  burned  down.  This  is  the  most  inaccessible  island  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts archipelago,  and  many  lives  have  been  lost  in  trying  to  land  upon 
it.  There  is  no  shelter  nor  anchorage ;  and  occasionally,  after  a  long 
storm,  the  fishermen  find  on  its  rocks  fragments  of  decks  and  masts,  the 
only  memorials  of  all-destroying  wrecks.  This  lonely  and  legend-haunted 
rock  has  been  called  the  home  of  the  East  Wind,  that  worst  of  scourges  in 
winter  and  spring,  and  most  delightful  of  blessings  in  summer.  Often  during 
the  scalding  days  of  July  and  August  the  Outer-Brewster  zephyrs  go  troop- 
ing up  the  harbor,  bearing  life  and  refreshment  through  all  the  town,  and 
dispelling  its  muggy  vapors  and  exhalations. 

The  Shag  (or  Egg)  Rocks  are  a  group  of  formidable  ledges,  rising  from 
the  waves  south  of  Brewsters,  and  very  dangerous  to  mariners,  many  of 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


223 


whom  have  lost  their  lives  here.     "At  midnight,  on  the  3d  of  November, 
1861,  the  ship  Montana,  laden  with  a  rich  cargo,  and  bearing  many  human 

lives,  struck  on  the 
Shag  Rocks.  .  .  .  The 
forward  part  of  the 
vessel    jammed     in 


Villa  of  Augustus  Russ,  Esq.,  on  the  Middle  Brewster. 


among  the  rocks,  and  held  fast :  the  stern  was  in  deep  water.     There  was 
a  driving  snowstorm  when  she  struck,  and  it  was  very  cold.     The  wretched 


224  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

passengers,  who  at  one  time  were  safe  on  the  inhospitable  rocks,  were  per- 
suaded that  the  vessel  would  hold  together,  and,  impelled  by  the  piercing 
cold,  returned  to  the  ship,  and  were  lost.1'  At  seven  in  the  morning  the 
vessel  broke  in  two ;  and  25  of  her  crew  and  passengers,  including  several 
women  and  children,  were  drowned.  Their  bodies  were  thrown  up  on 
Light-House  Island  days  afterwards.  Thirteen  persons  clung  to  the  rocks 
until  the  next  day,  when  they  were  gallantly  rescued  by  Samuel  James  of 
Hull,  in  a  small  dory,  and  placed  on  board  a  pilot-boat.  Many  other  disas- 
ters have  happened  on  these  rocky  fangs,  but  none  so  terrible  as  this.  On 
a  stormy  March  night  of  1861  the  schooner  Enterp}ise  drove  in  on  to  the 
Egg  Rocks,  and  was  very  quickly  broken  in  pieces.  Some  years  earlier  a 
rich  French  merchantman  struck  here  in  a  gale,  and  was  utterly  destroyed 
with  her  crew. 

On  the  night  of  January  31,  1882,  the  Fanny  Pike  of  Calais  struck  here 
during  a  terrific  north-east  snow-storm.  A  very  heavy  sea  was  running;  but 
the  crew  succeeded  in  getting  on  the  rocks,  where  they  lay  for  ten  hours, 
after  which  they  were  heroically  rescued  by  Bates  and  Bailey,  the  light- 
house keepers,  and  Charles  Pochaska  of  the  Middle  Brewster.  These 
gallant  rescuers  received  diplomas  and  rewards  from  the  Massachusetts 
Humane  Society. 

The  Graves  are  a  group  of  black  and  frowning  ledges,  north-east  of  the 
Brewsters,  in  the  sea,  and  entirely  swept  by  the  surf  during  heavy  weather. 
They  are  marked  by  a  huge  whistling  buoy,  whose  mechanism  is  such,  that 
the  waves  which  rock  it  to  and  fro  drive  the  air  through  a  narrow  space  at 
the  top,  making  a  sound  that  can  be  heard  for  miles.  It  is  indescribably 
weird  and  mournful,  varying  in  compass  from  a  vast  sigh,  almost  too  vague 
to  locate,  but  pervading  all  the  adjacent  sea,  to  a  long  and  blood-chilling 
moan,  or  a  wild  and  long-drawn  shriek.  It  is  as  if  all  the  dead  men  whose 
lives  have  been  drowned  out  of  them  on  these  gloomy  ledges,  still  haunted 
the  scene,  with  articulate  wailings.  Yet,  on  a  still  day,  light  yachts  run  out 
around  the  rocks,  and  touch  the  great  buoy. 

The  Graves  were  named  in  honor  of  Thomas  Graves,  who  came  over  in 
command  of  the  Talbot,  the  vice-admiral  of  Winthrop's  fleet.  Afterwards, 
in  1643-44,  he  commanded  the  Trial,  the  first  large  vessel  built  in  Boston, 
in  her  long  voyages  to  Bilboa  and  Malaga.  The  Trial  was  built  by  Nehe- 
miah  Bourne,  who,  after  some  years'  residence  at  Boston,  returned  to  Eng- 
land, and  became  rear-admiral  in  the  Parliament's  navy.  Shurtleff  says  that 
the  Graves  were  named  for  the  British  Admiral  Graves,  who  made  himself 
so  disagreeable  to  our  American  ports  during  the  Revolution,  and  is  said  to 
have  touched  these  rocks.  This  cannot  be  accurate,  however ;  for  they  bear 
their  present  name  on  the  chart  made  in  1689,  nearly  a  century  earlier.  The 
fishermen  on  the  adjacent  islands  believe  that  the  resemblance  of  the  rocks 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON   HA R BOA'. 


225 


to  tombstones,  rising  in  somewhat  regular  forms  from  the  sea,  and  whitened 
by  layers  of  limestone,  has  given  reason  for  the  name. 

Outside  of  Point  Allerton,  about  two  miles,  is  the  dreaded  Harding's 
Ledge,  which  was  anciently  known  as  Conny  Hasset  Rock,  and  remains  one 
of  the  most  formidable  dangers  of  the  Bay.  It  becomes  partly  bare  at  low 
water,  and  is  marked  by  an  immense  bell-buoy.  The  new  bell  is  forty  feet 
above  the  water,  and  its  deep  pealing  is  heard  at  a  great  distance.  Among 
the  most  serious  losses  which  this  black  Harding's  Ledge  has  inflicted  on 
our   commerce  was  that  of  a  great  ship  which  was  wrecked  here, 

with     serious        V  loss  of  life,  some  years  ago.     In  1876  a  large  iron 

steamshiD  also         \  struck  on  this  grim 

—      rock.     Only  a  year 

or     two 

ago  the 

%l"^S?x;^^^:  ■ .-—  Govern- 


v&   &<?.<**&. 


A  Calf-Island  Woman  spearing  Flounders. 


or  Cony,  laden  with  pig-iron  and  kerosene,  missed  stays,  and  struck  the 
Ledge  so  plumply  that  she  went  down  almost  instantly,  leaving  only  her 
upper  masts  in  sight. 

The  mournful  peal  of  the  bell  breaks  through  the  gray  solitudes  with 
that  strange  pathetic  harmony  which  Lucy  Larcom  has  thus  described :  — 


:  The  vessels  are  sunk  in  the  mist ; 
And  hist ! 
Through  the  veil  of  the  air 

Throbs  a  sound, 
Like  a  wail  of  despair, 
That  dies  into  stillness  profound. 


All  muffled  in  gray  is  the  sea  ; 
Not  a  tree 
Sees  its  neighbor  beside 

Or  before ; 
And  across  the  blank  tide, 
Hark  1  that  sob  of  an  echo  once  more." 


Calf  Island  is  just  north  of  the  Great  Brewster,  and  was  anciently 
known  as  the  North  Brewster.  It  covers  ten  acres,  and  has  several  small 
houses  and  a  lonely  grave.  Nature  has  not  been  lavish  here;  but  her  kind- 
lier touch  appears  in  a  pretty  grove  of  wild  cherry-trees,  and  artists  find 


226 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF   BOSTON   HARBOR. 


here  a  great  variety  of  choice  subjects  for  studies.  Among  the  rugged 
ledges  of  basalt  which  front  the  surf,  there  are  several  pretty  bits  of  beach 
where  landing  may  be  made.  In  years  not  long  past,  sometimes,  of  a  pleas- 
ant summer  Sunday,  scores  of  boats,  dories,  and  yachts  would  make  a  rush 
from  the  city  to  this  sequestered  spot,  and  their  crews  would  congregate  in 
a  dense  circular  crowd  on  the  greensward.  From  the  general  scattering 
apparent  if  the  harbor-police  boat  approached,  it  was  evident  that  these 
summer-tourists  were  not  on  the  best  terms  with  the  law ;  and  the  general 
belief  is,  that  the  art  of  pugilism  had  here  a  favored  shrine.     A  half-dozen 


Lobsterman's   House,   Calf  Island. 


lobstermen  and  their  families  now  live  on  the  island,  under  the  paternal  and 
eccentric  sway  of  Captain  Turner. 

About  a  hundred  feet  northward,  and  accessible  hence  at  low  tide,  rises 
the  barren  rock  of  Little  Calf  Island,  fringed  with  weedy  ledges.  To  the 
north  is  the  narrow  strait  of  Hypocrite  Passage,  through  which  small  boats 
frequently  run. 

Green  Island  is  the  most  northerly  of  the  group,  and  has  a  small  area 
of  grassy  earth  in  a  great  bowl  of  rock,  and  a  long  and  gravelly  South  Point. 
When  Samuel  Choate,  mariner,  had  reached  his  fiftieth  year,  in  1845,  ne 
settled  on  this  islet,  hardly  larger  than  a  vessel's  deck,  and  built  a  rude  hut, 
where  he  lived  for  twenty  years,  subsisting  mainly  on  fish  and  muscles. 
During  the  famous  storm  of  185 1,  this  maritime  hermit  was  taken  off  by 
a  pilot-boat,  for  his  fast-anchored  deck  was  submerged  by  the  furious  tide; 
and  in  1865,  old  and  feeble,  he  was  removed  to  a  charitable  home. 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  227 


CLIFFS    ON    THE   OUTER    BREWSTER,    AT    LOW    TIDE. 


This  group  of  gaunt  and  jagged  rocks,  each  with  its  bit  of  history,  but 
mainly  endowed  with  tragic  interest,  are  the  remotest  outer  guards  of  the 
western  St.  Botolph's  Town,  and  around  them  flows  the  swelling  tide  of  her 


228 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


great  commerce.     Myriads  of  weary  mariners  have   welcomed  them  with 
joy,  sailing  inward  from  far-distant  seas.     Standing  upon  their  strong  bul- 


On  the  Middle  Brewster. 

warks,  you  may  hear  the  bands  playing  in  summer  plaisance  at  Hull,  the 
distant  bugles  of  Fort  Warren,  and  the  ghostly  murmurings  of  the  Graves ; 
and 

"  Hark  to  the  sailor,  singing  as  he  rocks, 
A  mote  upon  the  mighty  ocean  swell." 


The  Bug  Light 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  229 


Bits  of  harbor  PHstors- 

HISTORIC    VIGNETTES.  — OLD-TIME    EXCURSIONS. —  ART    AND    LITERATURE.— 
BOSTON'S  COMMERCE. 

,ONG  ago  Peter  Peregrine  (the  celebrated  Dr.  E.  C. 
Wines)  wrote  thus  :  "  The  sea-view  of  Boston,  which 
I  had  the  opportunity  of  contemplating  as  we  passed 
down  the  bay,  is  superb.  I  can  recall  but  two  simi- 
lar views — those  of  Genoa  and  of  Naples — worthy 
of  being  compared  with  it.  And  while,  in  some 
points  of  the  comparison,  the  superior  beauty  of  the 
latter  must  be  confessed  by  all,  there  are  others  in 
which  the  Boston  view  indubitably  surpasses  them. 
The  almost  innumerable  green  and  fertile  islands,  sown  broadcast  over  the 
surface  of  the  bay,  constitute  a  feature  in  the  prospect,  to  which  neither  of 
the  views  referred  to  furnishes  any  parallel.  .  .  .  The  number  of  islands 
reminded  me  of  the  Cyclades,  though  it  must  be  confessed,  that,  in  their 
appearance,  nothing  could  well  be  more  dissimilar  than  those  of  the  .Egean 
Sea  and  Massachusetts  Bay."  In  a  similar  but  more  temperate  vein,  N.  P. 
Willis  remarks  that  Boston  Harbor  has  been  likened  to  the  Bay  of  Naples ; 
and  charitably  adds  that  "it  may  be  mentioned  in  the  same  day."  We  have 
also  the  testimony  of  a  cultivated  gentleman  from  Southern  Italy,  that 
paragon  of  lands  of  beauty;  for  Raffaelle  Capobianco,  the  priest  of  the 
Neapolitan  frigate  Urania,  described  "the  wonderful  and  picturesque  bay" 
of  Boston,  as  his  fine  old  Bourbon  man-of-war  ascended  its  island-mazes, 
amid  salutes  from  all  the  batteries.  He  especially  admired  Bunker-Hill 
Monument,  which,  he  said,  was  "  commenced  by  the  celebrated  engineer, 
O'Donnell  Webster,  under  the  presidency  of  the  famous  Lafayette." 

When  the  Abbe  Robin,  a  chaplain  in  Rochambeau's  army,  sailed  into 
the  harbor,  he  wrote :  "  A  favorable  breeze  sprang  up,  and  brought  us  safely 
into  the  roadstead  of  Boston.  In  this  roadstead,  studded  with  pleasant 
islands,  we  saw,  over  the  trees  on  the  west,  the  houses  rising  ampitheatre- 
like,  and  forming  along  the  hillsides  a  semicircle  of  nearly  half  a  league : 
this  was  the  town  of  Boston." 

More  than  two  centuries  before  these  wise  priests  sailed  up  through 
Nantasket  Roads,  and  in  the  very  dawn  of  its  history,  the  saints  took  pos- 
session of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  its  inner  harbor;  and  on  the  most  ancient 
maps  this  broad  expanse  of  water  bore  their  names,  emblazoned  across  the 


23O  KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

uncertain  space  between  Cape  Cod  and  the  mainland.  On  Fernando  Co- 
lumbus's map,  dated  1527,  Massachusetts  Bay  is  called  the  Bay  of  St. 
Antonio.  Apolonius's  Antwerp  map  of  the  New  World,  dated  1566,  calls  it 
the  Bay  of  St.  Christoval  (and  Cape  Cod  is  Cape  de  Trafalgar).  On  Hood's 
map,  of  1592,  it  is  the  Bay  of  San  Christoforo.  Twenty  years  later  the 
Dutch  explorers  named  Boston  Harbor,  Fox  Haven,  in  honor  of  one  of 
their  ships,  the  Little  Fox ;  and  about  the  same  time  Champlain  called  it 
the  River  du  Guast,  and  Captain  John  Smith  named  it  the  Charles  River. 
In  1608  Champlain's  little  French  ship  anchored  off  Noddle's  Island;  and 
he  thus  described  the  country:  "We  observed  many  smokes  along  the  shore, 
and  many  Savages  running  up  to  see  us.  Sieur  de  Monts  sent  two  or  three 
men  in  a  canoe  to  them,  to  whom  he  gave  some  knives  and  paternosters  to 
present  to  them;  with  which  they  were  greatly  pleased,  and  danced  several 
times  in  acknowledgment.  We  could  not  ascertain  the  name  of  their  chief, 
as  we  did  not  know  their  language.  All  along  the  shore  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  land  cleared  up  and  planted  with  Indian  corn.  The  country  is  very 
pleasant  and  agreeable,  and  there  is  no  lack  of  fine  trees.  ...  As  we  con- 
tinued our  course,  large  numbers  came  to  us  in  canoes  from  the  islands  and 
mainland."  This  visit  of  Champlain  is  neatly  described  by  a  local  anti- 
quary: "When  they  left  the  harbor  of  Boston,  the  islands  and  mainland  were 
swarming  with  the  native  population.  The  Indians  were,  naturally  enough, 
intensely  interested  in  this  visit  of  the  little  French  barque.  It  may  have 
been  the  first  that  had  ever  made  its  appearance  in  the  Bay.  Its  size  was 
many  times  greater  than  any  water-craft  of  their  own.  Spreading  its  white 
wings,  and  gliding  silently  away  without  oarsmen,  it  filled  them  with  surprise 
and  admiration.  The  whole  population  was  astir.  The  cornfields  and 
fishing-stations  were  deserted.  Every  canoe  was  manned,  and  a  flotilla  of 
their  tiny  craft  came  to  attend,  honor,  and  speed  the  parting  guests ;  experi- 
encing, doubtless,  a  sense  of  relief  that  they  were  going,  and  filled  with  a 
painful  curiosity  to  know  the  meaning  of  this  mysterious  visit." 

Capt.  John  Smith  says  of  his  Charles  River:  "They  find  that  faire  chan- 
nell  to  divide  itselfe  into  so  many  faire  branches  as  to  make  forty  or  fifty 
pleasant  islands  within  that  excellent  Bay.  .  .  .  We  found  the  people  in 
those  parts  verie  kinde ;  but  in  their  furie  no  lesse  valiant.  For,  upon  a 
quarrell  wee  had  with  one  of  them,  hee  onely  with  three  others  crossed  the 
harbor  of  Ouonahassit  [Cohasset]  to  certaine  rocks  whereby  wee  must  passe, 
and  there  let  flie  their  arrowes  for  our  shot,  till  we  were  out  of  danger." 

During  the  next  decade,  several  parties  of  adventurers  sailed  into  the 
harbor,  seeking  locations  for  new  colonies  on  this  virgin  soil.  Standish 
reconnoitred  the  coast  in  1621  ;  Weston's  men  came  to  Weymouth  in  1622; 
exiles  from  Plymouth  founded  Hull  in  1622;  and  Morton's  scapegrace 
colony  of  Merry-Mount  began  in  1625. 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


2T,l 


Many  a  vessel  had  sailed  into  the  harbor,  from  the  time  of  Thorwald 
to  that  of  Champlain  and  Standish  ;  but  the  arrival  which  was  great  with 
destiny  for  these  shores  occurred  in  the  beautiful  late  summer  of  1630, 
when  Governor  Winthrop's  fleet  sailed  in,  coming  around  from  Salem.  The 
picturesque  high-sterned  vessels,  almost  Elizabethan  in  their  antique  models 
and  rich  quaint  decorations,  with  abundance  of  flags  fluttering  from  their 
low  masts,  and  scores  of  fierce  little  four-pound  cannon  protruding  from 
their  port-holes,  made  a  brave  show  as  they  sailed  up  the  harbor,  while  the 
rich  flush  of  a  July  day  rested  on  the  embowered  islands  and  the  graceful 
hills  of  Shawmut.     Foremost  rode  the  admiral-ship,  Lady  Arbella,  of  350 


The  Old  Tewksbury  House,   Point  Shirley. 


tons,  with  28  guns,  and  in  all  points  well  equipped ;   next  came  the  vice- 
admiral,  the  Talbot,  with  the  remaining  vessels  closing  in  behind. 

Mr.  Beecher  once  said  that  "  God  seems  to  have  picked  out  the  hardest 
territory  on  the  globe  for  the  Puritans  to  inhabit.  He  placed  them  on  the 
sterile  soil  of  New  England,  and  told  them  to  show  what  they  could  do ; 
and  they  have  shown  it  to  the  world."  At  first  they  took  a  grave  view  of 
this  dispensation ;  and  Cotton  Mather  himself  reported  that  Boston,  "  the 
Metropolis  of  the  whole  English  Empire  .  .  .  was  at  first  proverbially  called 
Lost-Town,  for  the  mean  and  sad  circumstances  of  it."  Ship  after  ship 
ascended  the  Bay,  each  with  its  precious  cargo  of  immigrants,  self-exiled 


232  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

for  conscience'  sake,  and  finding  joy  in  freedom,  even  on  a  rugged  and 
empty  continent.  The  sentiment  is  clearly  set  forth  in  "  Margaret  Smith 's 
Journal:"  "As  we  passed  the  small  wooded  islands,  which  make  the  bay 
very  pleasant,  and  entered  close  upon  the  town,  and  saw  the  houses  and 
orchards,  and  meadows,  and  the  hills  beyond  covered  with  a  great  growth 
of  wood,  my  brother,  lifting  up  both  of  his  hands,  cried  out,  '  How  goodly 
are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  habitations,  O  Israel!'  and  for  my  part  I 
did  weep  for  joy  and  thankfulness  of  heart,  that  God  had  brought  us  safely 
to  so  fair  a  haven." 

If,  on  the  one  hand,  Dummer's  words  describing  the  Massachusetts  land 
as  "  bare  creation  "  were  doubtless  true,  the  compensation  was  set  forth, 
and  the  victory  assured,  by  Stoughton's  expression,  "  God  sifted  a  whole 
nition  that  he  might  send  choice  grain  over  into  this  wilderness."  Even 
saintly  Herbert  wrote  that,  — 

"  Religion  stands  on  tiptoe  in  our  land, 
Ready  to  pass  to  the  'Merican  strand." 

One  of  the  most  homely  and  pathetic  scenes  of  this  exodus  is  that  por- 
trayed in  "  The  Wonder-Working  Providence  of  Sion's  Saviour  in  New 
England,"  where  the  women  of  Boston  are  shown  in  the  act  of  digging 
clams  on  the  harbor-flats,  "where  they  daily  gathered  their  Families  food 
with  much  heavenly  discourse  of  the  provision  Christ  had  formerly  made 
for  many  thousands  of  His  followers  in  the  wildernesse." 

In  1633  Wood  wrote  the  following  good  description  of  Boston  Harbor, 
in  his  "  New-England  Prospect :  "  "  This  harbour  is  made  by  a  great  company 
of  islands,  whose  high  cliffs  should  cut  the  boisterous  seas ;  yet  may  easily 
deceive  any  unskilful  pilot;  presenting  many  fair  openings  and  broad 
sounds,  which  afford  too  shallow  water  for  ships,  though  navigable  for  boats, 
and  pinnaces.  It  is  a  safe  and  pleasant  harbour  within,  having  but  one  com- 
mon and  safe  entrance,  and  that  not  very  broad;  there  scarce  being  room 
for  three  ships  to  come  in  board  and  board  at  a  time  ;  but  being  once  in, 
these  is  room  for  the  anchorage  of  500  ships.  The  seamen  having  spent 
their  old  store  of  wood  and  water,  may  here  have  fresh  supplies  from  the 
adjacent  islands,  with  good  timber  to  repair  their  weather-beaten  ships." 

The  Indians  still  visited  the  harbor  to  see  the  wonders  of  the  new  civ- 
ilization, and  the  author  of  "Naomi  "  represents  their  canoes  as  continually 
flitting  up  and  clown  among  the  islands.  Josselyn,  the  delightful  gossip, 
thus  describes  (in  1638)  one  of  their  sea-boats:  "We  had  the  sight  of  an 
Indian  pinnace  sailing  by  us,  made  of  birch-bark,  sewed  together  with  the 
roots  of  spruce  and  white  cedar  (drawn  out  into  threads),  with  a  deck,  and 
trimmed  with  sails  top  and  top-gallant  very  sumptuously." 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  JJ ARBOR. 


233 


When  the  fleet  lay  in  the  Roads,  in  1636,  the  Rev.  Hugh  Peters  enter- 
tained the  sailors  with  most  edifying  sermons.  Peters  was  the  successor 
of  Roger  Williams  in  the  First  Church  at  Salem,  and  in  after-years  became 
more  famous  as  a  colonel  in  Cromwell's  Parliamentary  army.  He  grievously 
insulted  King  Charles  I.,  who  lay  at  the  time  a  prisoner  under  sentence  of 
death,  and  after  the  Restoration  was  executed  in  the  Tower  of  London. 

In  1643  Capt.  Carman's  ship  came  into  the  Roads,  amid  great  rejoicings. 
She  had  been  attacked  by  a  Turkish  corsair,  of  26  guns  and  200  men,  off 
the  Canary  Islands,  and  escaped  only  after  a  very  desperate  battle.  A  hun- 
dred of  the  Saracen  pirates  boarded  her  at  one  time  ;  but  half  of  them  were 
driven  into  the  sea,  and  the  rest  fled  back  to  their  own  decks. 

In  1652-55  several  ships  entered  the  port,  bearing  sad  exiles,  sent  hither 
by  Cromwell's  order,  to  be  sold  as  slaves.     They  were  Irishmen  and   Scots, 
captured  by  the  victorious   Parliamentary  armies 
(many  of  them  at  the  battle  of  Dunbar),  and  torn 
from   their   homes  to  encounter  the  grievous 
hardships  of  servitude. 

The  terrible  witchcraft  troubles,  which  deso- 
lated the  Massachusetts  towns,  did  not  spare 
the  harbor  of  Boston.     After  Thomas  Jones's 
wife  had  been  executed  as  a  witch,  he  resolved 
to  fly  from  such  a  cruel  country,  and  went 
on  board  the  ship  Welcome,  then  at  anchor 
in    the    stream.     "  The  weather  was  calm, 
yet  the  ship  fell  to  rolling,  and  so  deep  it 
was    feared    she    would    founder.       Great 
weight  was  placed  on  one  side  to  trim  her, 
and  she  would  heel  over  on  the  other  side. 

The  County  Court  was  then  in  session,  and,  hearing  that  the  husband  of 
the  executed  witch  was  on  board,  sent  officers  to  arrest  him.  No  sooner 
was  the  warrant  shown,  than  the  rolling  of  the  ship  began  to  stop;  and 
after  the  man  was  in  prison  it  moved  no  more."  Other  supernatural  ter- 
rors stalked  abroad  in  the  harbor.  Weird  corpse  lights  were  seen,  dancing 
along  the  heights  of  Governor's  Island;  ghastly  human  forms  walked  on 
the  waves  beyond  the  Castle  ;  and  mysterious  voices  were  heard  mingling 
with  the  night-winds. 

"  I  write  the  wonders  of  the  Christian  Religion,  flying  from  the  deprava- 
tions of  Europe,  to  the  American  Strand,"  —  says  worthy  Cotton  Mather,  in 
Homeric  vein,  at  the  beginning  of  his  "  Magnalia  Christi  Americana;"  and 
in  the  chapter  headed  "  Pietas  in  Patriam,"  he  describes  the  gathering  of  the 
great  colonial  fleet  in  Nantasket  Roads,  in  1690,  when  32  vessels  and  2,000 
men  were   assembled  there,  and  Sir  William  Phipps   sailed  away  at  their 


Governor  Winthrop. 


234 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


head  in  the  ship  Six  Friends,  44  guns,  to  take  Quebec,  the  western  citadel 
of  the  abomination  of  Rome.  But,  after  much  hard  fighting,  Phipps  re- 
turned to  Boston  with  the  remnants  of  his  discomfited  fleet,  and  publicly 
said,  "  The  things  which  befell  me  on  this  expedition  are  too  deep  to  be 
dived  into." 

Numberless  unfortunates  were  driven  into  this  port  during  the  early- 
days,  and  found  the  grim  Puritans  most  sympathetic  and  helpful.  In  simple 
language,  the  old  records  tell  many  a  plaintive  story :  "  There  are  lately 
arrived  fifteen  French  families,  with  a  religious  Protestant  minister,  who  are 
in  all  —  men,  women,  and  children  —  more  than  fourscore  souls,  and  are 


The  Police- Boat,   Boston   Harbor. 

such  as  fled  from  France  for  religion's  sake ;  and  by  their  long  passage  at 
sea  their  doctor  and  twelve  men  are  dead,  and  by  other  inconveniences  the 
living  are  reduced  to  great  sickness  and  poverty,  and  therefore  objects  of  a 
true  Christian  charity.  Also,  fifty  persons  —  men,  women,  and  children  — 
which  were  by  the  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards  driven  off  from  Elutheria  (an 
island  of  the  Bohemiahs),  naked  and  in  distress."  Sometimes  the  compas- 
sion of  the  townsmen  took  a  singular  turn,  as  when  a  cargo  of  negroes, 
mostly  women  and  children,  torn  from  the  coasts  of  Madagascar,  were 
brought  into  port  more  dead  than  alive.  These,  as  it  is  recorded,  "were 
sold  as  slaves  to  magistrates,  ministers,  and  people  of  distinction."     Proba- 


KING'S   flAA'DHOOK   OF  HOSI'OA'   HARBOR. 


235 


bly  their  descendants,  sable  or  part  bleached,  are  now  not  without  honor  in 
Anderson  Street. 

In  171 1  Nantasket  Roads  saw  a  more  splendid  sight  than  it  ever  had 
before,  when  the  vast  armada  of  Admiral  Sir  Hovenden  Walker  anchored 
there  for  several  weeks.  The  fleet  was  composed  of  15  men-of-war  and  6 
store-ships,  with  40  transports  and  7,000  soldiers,  many  of  them  Marlbor- 
ough's veterans  ;  and  the  troops  were  landed,  and  encamped  on  the  harbor 
islands.  In  July  the  expedition  sailed  away,  filled  with  high  hopes  of  the 
conquest  of  Canada;  but  when  it  reached  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
a  terrible  storm  broke  over  it,  and    several  transports  and  1,000  soldiers 


The  Fire- Department  Boat,   Boston  Harbor. 


were  lost.  The  pious  Franco-Canadian  Catholics  saw  in  this  disaster  the 
hand  of  God,  as  the  Puritans  also  referred  the  destruction  of  the  Due 
d'Anville's  fleet  to  the  same  agency  ;  and  Queen  Elizabeth's  Episcopalians 
likewise  recognized  a  similar  impartial  Providence  in  the  loss  of  the  Span- 
ish Armada. 

Bennett,  in  1740,  thus  describes  the  harbor  and  its  islands:  "At  the 
entrance  of  the  bay  there  are  several  rocks  of  great  magnitude,  the  tops  of 
which  appeared  considerably  above  the  surface  of  the  water  at  the  time  of 
our  passing  by  them.  There  are  also  about  a  dozen  little  islands  all  in  view 
as  we  approach  the  town,  some  of  which  are  as  fine  farms  as  any  in  the 
whole  country.     This  town  has  a  good  natural  security,  in  my  opinion;  for 


236  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

there  is  great  plenty  of  rocks  and  shoals,  which  are  not  easy  to  be  avoided 
by  strangers  to  the  coasts  ;  and  there  is  but  one  safe  channel  to  approach  the 
harbor,  and  that  so  narrow  that  three  ships  can  hardly  sail  through  abreast; 
but  within  the  harbor  there  is  room  enough  for  five  hundred  sail  to  lie  at 
anchor." 

In  1745  a  body  of  2,000  French  prisoners  from  Louisburg  were  brought 
into  Boston,  where  they  were  held  in  captivity  for  some  time,  and  then  sent 
to  France.  Three  years  later  another  singular  company  came  into  port 
from  Louisburg  and  Quebec.  These  were  the  people  of  New  England,, 
many  hundreds  in  number,  who  had  been  torn  from  their  homes,  and  led  into 
captivity  in  the  northern  forests  and  fortresses  of  Canada.  They  were  now 
coming  home  with  great  joy.  In  1775  several  ships  entered  the  Roads 
laden  with  Acadians,  the  gentle  and  pious  peasantry  whom  the  Provincial 
generals  had  driven  from  their  homes,  into  a  weary  and  perpetual  banish- 
ment. Here  might  have  been  Evangeline  herself,  sadly  gazing  upon  the 
sharp  black  rocks  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  In  1758  came  the  grandest  fleet 
which  Boston  Harbor  had  ever  seen,  when  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst,  a  veteran 
of  Fontenoy,  and  conqueror  of  Louisburg,  brought  in  his  great  expedition. 
He  landed  4,500  choice  British  soldiers,  who  marched  hence  to  Albany  and 
Montreal. 

In  1768  two  Irish  regiments  and  twelve  men-of-war  from  Halifax  entered 
the  Roads,  where  they  were  put  in  order  of  battle,  and  sailed  up  the  harbor, 
with  cannon  run  out  and  loaded,  to  overawe  rebellious  Boston.  The  Conti- 
nental lines  which  surrounded  Boston  in  the  landward  towns  were  continued 
on  blue  water  by  the  minute-men  of  the  sea,  the  gallant  privateers  of  Mar- 
blehead  and  other  ports.  When  a  royal  frigate  approached,  these  marine 
militia  crowded  on  canvas,  and  fled  into  the  adjacent  coves ;  but  when  a 
transport  or  troop-ship  appeared,  they  bore  down  on  her,  with  the  pine-tree 
flag  waving  saucily  from  the  fore,  and  their  little  batteries  of  6-pounders 
barking.  Many  a  rich  prize  was  taken  thus,  and  others  were  even  cut  out 
of  the  harbor,  and  borne  off  to  Yankee  ports.  A  royal  brig,  heavily  laden 
with  provisions  and  artillery,  and  with  3,000  muskets  and  2,000  broadswords 
in  her  cargo,  fortunately  ran  the  gauntlet  of  the  Massachusetts  fleet,  and 
anchored  in  Nantasket  Roads ;  but  a  particularly  audacious  Plymouth  pri- 
vateer cut  her  out,  and  escaped  to  sea  with  the  prize,  although  pursued  hotly 
by  several  British  men-of-war.  The  Lee  of  Marblehead  captured  four  in- 
bound British  vessels  in  a  single  week  of  December,  1775;  one  of  which, 
the  Nancy,  laden  with  artillery,  ammunition,  and  intrenching-tools,  became 
almost  the  salvation  of  Washington's  ill-equipped  army.  In  April,  1776,  the 
Hancock  captured  in  the  Bay  a  British  brig  from  Cork,  laden  with  pro- 
visions, and  another  from  the  Azores,  deeply  freighted  with  wine  and  fruit. 
Later,  she  took  the  Scottish  brigantine  Peggy,  8  guns ;  and  during  the  year 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


237 


forty  vessels  surrendered  to  the  gallant  little  Hancock.  Some  of  these 
were  armed,  and  carried  valuable  cargoes.  On  Sunday,  March  17,  1776,  the 
great  British  fleet  dropped  clown  the  harbor  from  Boston  and  Charlestown, 
and  anchored  in  Nantasket  Roads,  where  it  remained  for  ten  days.  On 
board  were  1 1,000  soldiers  and  sailors,  1,019  self-exiled  Bostonians  (includ- 
ins  102  civil  officers  and  18  clergymen),  and  105  loyalists  from  the  country 
towns.  It  was  a  beaten  and  dejected  army,  and  a  worried  fleet;  but  the 
saddest  feature  was  this  great  company  of  Boston  emigres,  who  preferred 
their  king  to  their  native  land,  and  departed  into  perpetual  exile.      How 


Dm  the  Jerusalem  Road. 


their  tears  must  have  flowed  as  the  familiar  islands  dropped  astern,  one  by 
one,  and  the  Puritan  spires  faded  away  in  the  west,  and  the  noble  crests  of 
the  Blue  Hills  sank  beneath  the  horizon ! 

When  the  fleet  sailed  away,  Commodore  Banks  with  the  Milford,  50, 
and  several  other  war-vessels,  remained  to  blockade  the  port.  Mrs.  Adams 
wrote  that  "the  Milford frigate  rides  triumphant  in  our  bay,  taking  vessels 
every  day,  and  no  Colony  or  Continental  vessel  has  yet  attempted  to  hinder 
her.  She  mounts  but  twenty-eight  guns,  and  is  one  of  the  fastest  sailers  in 
the  British  navy.  They  complain  we  have  not  weighty  metal  enough,  and  I 
suppose  truly."     The  day  came  for  this  last  remnant  of  hostile  occupation 


238'  KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  //ARBOR. 

to  be  removed,  when  Gen.  Lincoln's  Continentals  and  coast-guards  suddenly 
opened  a  simultaneous  fire  on  the  fleet  from  half  a  dozen  headlands  and 
islands,  and  knocked  many  a  great  splinter  out  of  the  natty  frigates.  The 
crashing  broadsides  of  British  iron  did  not  silence  the  Massachusetts  guns ; 
and  the  whole  squadron,  from  high-decked  flag-ship  down  to  little  tender, 
were  soon  fain  to  spread  their  towering  canvas,  and  fly  away  to  sea. 

On  the  day  after  the  first  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  the 
Massachusetts  brig  Defence,  18  guns,  captured  the  transport  John  and 
George,  6  guns,  and  120  men,  off  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  In  the  same 
week  the  American  privateers  captured  the  transport  Arabella,  in  the  same 
locality,  with  200  British  soldiers  on  board.  This  conquest  was  the  result 
of  a  hard  naval  battle,  during  which  Major  Menzies  and  18  men  were  killed. 
Only  the  day  after  Campbell's  Highlanders  were  captured  off  Long-Island 
Head,  another  transport  ran  into  the  harbor,  with  112  fine  Scottish  soldiers 
on-  board.  When  she  was  alongside  the  light-house  a  privateer-schooner 
pounced  upon  her,  and  led  the  unhappy  plaidies  into  Boston. 

In  1779  the  celebrated  Penobscot  expedition  rendezvoused  here,  and  lay 
in  the  Roads  for  several  days.  The  French  fleet  and  army  had  declined  to 
attack  the  British  stronghold  at  Castine ;  and  so  Massachusetts  collected 
here  her  whole  naval  strength, —  19  armed  vessels,  with  324  guns,  and  20 
transports,  with  1,300  soldiers.  None  of  these  snug  little  Yankee  frigates 
ever  saw  the  harbor  again ;  for  a  British  squadron  pounced  upon  them  as 
they  lay  off  Castine,  and  destroyed  the  entire  outfit. 

When  the  French  fleet  lay  in  the  harbor,  in  1778,  blockaded  by  Lord 
Howe's  powerful  squadron,  Gov.  John  Hancock  gave  the  officers  a  grand 
breakfast  at  his  stately  house  on  Beacon  Hill ;  and  they  returned  the  com- 
pliment by  a  banquet  on  their  flag-ship,  at  which  Madam  Hancock  was  a 
strangely  honored  guest.  "  As  the  wife  of  His  Excellency  was  seated  at 
the  table,  on  which  was  spread  an  elegant  collation,  on  board  the  vessel  of 
the  French  commander,  he  requested  her  to  ring  a  small  bell  which  he 
handed  her.  She  did  so.  This  was  the  preconcerted  signal  for  a  general 
salute  from  all  the  guns  of  the  fleet.  She  was  startled  alike  out  of  her  offi- 
cial dignity  and  personal  propriety  by  the  deafening  peal  of  artillery  that 
ensued."  For  three  months  the  vast  line-of-battle  ships  lay  at  anchor  here ; 
and  Massachusetts  called  out  nine  regiments  of  militia  to  aid  in  defending 
them  against  the  British  armada  outside. 

Once  a  clipper-schooner,  laden  down  with  powder  for  the  use  of  our 
armies,  attempted  to  run  the  blockade.  She  had  been  ingeniously  disguised 
as  a  rough  and  dirty  coaster,  with  torn  sails  and  littered  deck,  and  all  her 
men  out  of  sight;  and  her  shrewd  captain  carried  on  the  following  dialogue 
with  the  commander  of  the  cruiser  that  overhauled  him  :  — ■ 

"  Heave  to,  you Yankee  !  "  cried  the  English  officer  from  the  quar- 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


239 


ter-deck.  "  Why  the  devil  didn't  you  do  so  when  I  fired  a  shot  across  your 
bows  ?  " 

"  Didn't  know  what  you  were  arter,"  called  out  a  slovenly-looking  indi- 
vidual at  the  helm;  "didn't  think  you  was  goin'  to  fire  right  into  our  little 
schooner,  that  wa'n't  a-goin'  to  do  you  no  harm." 

"What  schooner  is  that?"  called  the  amused  officer. 

"Pretty  Sally j  named  for  my  wife,  to  hum." 

"  Where  do  you  hail  from  ?  " 

"  Taunton,  good  Lord  "J  " 

"  What's  your  own  name  ?  " 


Sea-View,  from  Atlantic  Hill,  Nantasket. 


"  Captin  Silas  Slocom ;  and  I  ain't  ashamed  of  that  name,  nohow  nor 
nowheres." 

"  What  sort  of  a  cargo  have  you  got  aboard  ?  " 

"  Long-faced  gentry  —  there's  a  critter  grunting  now;  barn-yard  fowls  — 
didn't  you  hear  that  one  crow  jest  now?  long  sarse  and  short  sarse ;  and 
near  abouts  a  bar'l  o'  potatoes  I  got  down  East." 

"  Well,  strike  :  why  don't  you  strike  ?  " 

"  Strike,  hey  ?  I  ain't  got  nobody  to  strike,  'less  I  strike  brother  Jona- 
than, and  I  guess  he'd  strike  back ;  I  just  struck  little  Fidelle,  and  knocked 
him  overboard,  plaguy  clumsy-like  it  was,  and  our  Sally'll  be  all-fired  sorry, 
I  kin  tell  ye;  and  if  ye  don't  want  no  more  of  me,  I'll  be  gettin'  along,  for 
it's  e'ena'most  night  now." 


240  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

"  This  is  a  poor,  harmless  kind  of  fellow,"  said  the  British  officers  in 
council,  "carrying  home  provisions  to  keep  his  family  from  starving.  He 
really  isn't  worth  taking,  and  it  would  do  us  no  good  and  him  a  great  deal 
of  harm  if  we  brought  him  aboard  and  sunk  his  old  rattle-trap."  The  naval 
commander  sung  out,  "  Heave  ahead  there,  old  fellow  !  and  don't  let  us 
catch  you  again,  or  it'll  be  the  worse  for  you."  Off  went  the  clipper  up  the 
harbor,  and  soon  moored  alongside  the  wharf  at  Boston,  with  her  precious 
cargo. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1780  that  a  formidable  naval  battle  occurred 
off  Boston  Light,  when  the  British  50-gun  ship  Sagittaire  pounced  on  a 
French  convoy  bound  inward  from  Newport  to  Boston.  The  frigate  which 
guarded  the  little  fleet  carried  but  32  guns;  yet  it  boldly  attacked  the  hostile 
ship,  while  the  merchantmen,  laden  with  spars  and  naval  stores,  bore  away 
up  the  harbor.  Three  French  men-of-war  lay  off  Castle  Island,  but  they 
made  no  attempt  to  aid  their  overmatched  sister-ship,  and  the  battle  went 
on  for  over  an  hour,  while  the  sacred  height  of  Beacon  Hill  was  covered 
with  Bostonians,  watching  the  combat  with  spy-glasses.  At  last  the  roar 
of  artillery  ceased,  and  the  French  flag  descended  from  the  mast-head  of 
the  Magicienne ;  and,  during  the  subsequent  hours  of  that  beautiful  morn- 
ing, the  rigging  of  the  two  vessels  was  repaired,  and  the  dead  sailors  were 
thrown  into  the  Light-house  Roads.  Some  hours  later  the  French  fleet 
made  sail,  and  chased  the  British  frigate  and  her  prize  to  Halifax,  whence 
they  returned  empty-handed,  ten  days  later. 

In  1781  the  French  army  which  had  fought  so  gallantly  for  us  in  the 
Southern  campaigns  marched  into  Boston,  in  grand  state  :  the  Bourbonnais 
Regiment,  uniformed  in  white  and  gold  ;  the  Soissonnais  Grenadiers,  in 
white,  red,  and  pink,  with  waving  plumes,  commanded  by  Count  Segur, 
afterwards  a  peer  of  France,  whose  Memoirs  are  so  well-known ;  the  Saint- 
onge  Regiment,  in  white  and  blue,  led  by  Count  de  Custine  and  the  Prince  de 
Broglie,  both  of  whom  were  guillotined  during  the  French  Revolution ;  the 
four  battalions  of  the  Royal  Deux-Ponts  Regiment,  in  white,  red,  and  gold, 
led  by  Count  de  Deux-Ponts,  afterwards  made  famous  at  the  battle  of  Ho- 
henlinden ;  Lauzun's  famous  Legion,  whose  chivalric  leader  was  afterwards 
guillotined ;  the  Royal  Artillery,  in  blue  and  red,  most  of  whose  soldiers 
remained  with  Washington  to  besiege  New  York  ;  the  Engineer  Corps,  in 
blue  and  gray;  and  other  brilliant  companies,  with  bands  of  music,  white 
lily-flags,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  old-time  warriors.  Among  the  leaders 
were  Viomenil,  who  was  slain  afterwards,  while  defending  the  Tuileries ; 
the  Chevalier  de  Lameth,  who  became  a  soldier  of  the  Empire  ;  the  Marquis 
de  Champcenetz ;  the  Count  de  Dumas ;  Berthier,  afterwards  a  marshal 
under  Napoleon;  and  many  other  famous  nobles  and  warriors.  It  has 
been   reported   also    that  Bernadotte,  afterwards    king   of    Sweden,  was  a 


A'AVe/W    HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON   HARBOR. 


24  r 


soldier  in  this  army.  The  young  Marquis  of  Talleyrand-Perigord  marched 
as  a  volunteer  among  the  Grenadiers.  This  martial  host  embarked  on  the 
French  fleet  in  the  Roads.  There  lay  the  Triomphant,  Couronne,  and  Due 
de  Bourgogfie,  all  80-gun  ships  ;  the  Hercule,  Souverain,  Neptune,  Bourgogne, 
Northumberland,  Bravo,  and  Citoyen,  all  74-gun  ships-of-the-line ;  and  the 
frigates  Amazone  and  Nereide.  On  Christmas  Eve,  1781,  this  splendid 
little  army  left  the  harbor,  when  the  French  fleet,  ten  vessels  in  all,  mount- 
ing 754  guns>  Put  to  sea,  headed  by  the  Triomphant. 

In  the  summer  of  1782  the  British  frigate  Albemarle  cruised  in  the  Bay, 


A  Coaling-Station  on  the  Nantasket- Beach  Railroad. 


and  made  sad  havoc  with  the  coasting-vessels ;  although  its  commander, 
Nelson  (who  afterwards  became  the  most  illustrious  of  English  admirals), 
was  as  lenient  as  his  instructions  would  allow,  and  often  released  the  unfor- 
tunate little  sloops  and  schooners  that  were  brought  under  his  guns. 
Pleasant  stories  are  still  extant,  in  the  Old  Colony,  of  Lord  Nelson's  courtesy 
and  kindliness. 

In  1787,  1788,  and  1789,  the  harbor  of  Boston  was  the  winter-quarters  of 
the  French  fleets  in  the  Western  Atlantic,  since  there  they  were  safe  from 
the  fearful  hurricanes  of  the  West  Indies.  In  the  latter  year,  the  same  in 
which  Washington  visited  Boston  and  was  snubbed  by  Gov.  Hancock,  the 


242  KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

French  vessels  in  the  harbor  were  the  line-of-battle  ships  Leopard  and 
Patriot,  with  several  frigates ;  and  the  British  man-of-war  Penelope  lay  in 
the  roads  at  the  same  time. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  harbor  was  a  nest  of  saucy  priva- 
teers, of  which  this  port  alone  had  365  sail,  by  which  many  hundreds  of 
British  vessels  were  captured.  Among  these  were  such  strangely  named 
craft  as  the  Sturdy  Beggar,  C/t  arming  Sally,  American  Tartar,  Reprisal, 
Viper,  Lizard,  and  True  Blue.  The  State  of  Massachusetts  also  had  ten 
well-armed  war-ships,  which  cruised  very  effectively  on  the  outer  seas.  In 
the  War  of  1812  Boston  sent  out  many  privateers,  roaming  the  Atlantic 
in  search  of  British  merchantmen  or  small  cruisers.  If  the  main  channel 
was  blockaded,  these  gallant  little  war-ships  would  scurry  out  Broad  Sound, 
or  creep  through  Shirley  Gut,  and  run  for  the  Capes,  with  all  sail  set. 
Oftentimes  they  lurked  in  the  lee  of  the  islands  until  propitious  gales  had 
driven  the  blockaders  out  of  sight,  and  then  away  they  went : 

"  A  randy  dandy,  dandy,  oh  ! 
And  a  whet  of  ale  and  brandy,  oh  ! 
A  rumbelow,  and  seaward,  ho  ! 
And  cheer,  my  merrymen,  all,  oh!" 

The  port  was  blockaded  during  nearly  all  the  time  of  the  War  of  1812-15, 
but  the  American  frigates  ran  in  and  out  without  much  difficulty.  Among 
those  who  thus  escaped  the  British  fleet  were  the  United  States,  President, 
Congress,  Hor7iet,  Frolic,  John  Adams,  Argus,  Nautilus,  Rattlesnake,  and 
Siren.  The  Constitution  passed  in  and  out  seven  times.  It  was  from  the 
Roads  that  the  Constitution,  44,  sailed,  in  August,  1812,  on  the  cruise  which 
resulted  in  her  capture  of  the  British  frigate  Guerriere,  49,  after  a  most 
spirited  naval  battle,  commemorated  in  the  song  beginning:  — 

"  I  often  have  been  told 

That  the  British  seamen  bold 
Could  beat  the  tars  of  France  neat  and  handy,  O  ! 

But  they  never  found  their  match, 

Till  the  Yankees  did  them  catch, 
For  the  Yankee  tars  for  fighting  are  the  dandy,  O  1 

"  Oh,  the  Guerriere  so  bold, 

On  the  foaming  ocean  rolled, 
Commanded  by  proud  Dacres  the  grandee,  O I 

With  as  choice  a  British  crew 

As  a  rammer  ever  drew, 
They  could  beat  the  Frenchmen  two  to  one  so  handy,  O!'' 


KING  'S    HANDBOOK   OF   BOSTON   HARBOR. 


243 


The  British  had  laughed  enough  at  a  navy  which  they  said  was  composed 
of  "half  a  dozen  of  fir  frigates  with  bits  of  striped  bunting  tied  to  their 
mast-heads;"  and  so  soon  Capt.  Hull  was  able  (o  announce  the  capture  of 
the  Guerriere,  dating  his  despatch,  "  Off  Boston  Light.1' 

During  a  considerable  part  of  theWarof  181 2,  guard-boats  were  stationed 
here  every  night,  with  rockets,  which  they  were  to  send  up  in  the  event  of 
the  approach  of  hostile  ships.  In  case  of  such  an  alarm,  the  reserve  forces 
encamped  at  South  Boston  were  to  be  hurried  into  the  forts,  with  field 
artillery ;   and  the  frigates  in  the  inner  harbor  were  to  bear  down  on  the 


L. 


View  across  Hull   Bay,  from  Peddock's  Island. 


channel.     Fortunately  the  rockets  were  not  needed,  and  the  liveliest  night 
in  Boston  Harbor  is  still  to  come. 

The  Navy  Club  of  Harvard  College  commemorated  a  tradition  that  one 
day  during  the  War  of  181 2  the  senior  class  was  enjoying  a  sail  in  the 
lower  harbor,  when  their  little  craft  was  pounced  upon  and  captured  by 
the  boats  of  one  of  the  British  blockaders.  After  a  brief  captivity,  the 
pining  lads  were  set  free,  and  returned  to  Cambridge  with  their  love  of 
adventure  thrown  far  in  abeyance.  For  thirty  years  or  more  thereafter, 
the  Navy  Club  sailed  down  the  harbor  on  every  recurring  Artillery-Election 


244 


KING  'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


day,  but  His  Britannic  Majesty's  mariners  troubled  them  no  more.  The 
Lord  High  Admiral  of  Harvard  was  always  the  young  gentleman  who  had 
the  most  friends  in  his  class  and  the  most  enemies  in  the  Faculty,  and  who 
had  been  suspended  at  least  once. 

Here  the  Indepettdence,  74,  the  flag-ship  of  the  Mediterranean  squadron, 
with  the  Erie,  Chippewa,  and  Lynx,  set  sail,  under  command  of  stout  old 
Bainbridge,  in  1815,  on  tne  expedition  against  Algiers  and  the  Barbary 
powers.  One  of  the  strangest  tragedies  of  the  harbor  was  the  destruction 
of  the  Canton  Packet  in  1817.  This  fine  ship  was  about  to  sail  to  the  East 
Indies,  with  a  valuable  cargo  and  $400,000  in  specie ;  and  on  the  day  before 


Scene  near  Nantasket. 


departure  her  negro  steward  demanded  permission  to  go  ashore,  to  enjoy 
the  revels  of  Artillery-Election  day.  This  privilege  was  denied  him,  and  he 
secured  a  novel  revenge.  When  the  crew  were  ashore,  he  fired  a  pistol  into 
the  casks  of  gunpowder  which  composed  a  part  of  the  cargo,  and  blew 
up  the  ship,  losing  his  own  misanthropic  life  in  the  general  ruin.  The 
explosion  alarmed  the  whole  town,  and  garbled  traditions  of  the  blacka- 
moor's achievement  were  narrated  for  half  a  century  afterwards. 

In  1844  the  harbor  was  frozen  over  to  Castle  Island,  and  thence  nearly 
to  Broad  Sound,  with  huge  fields  of  ice  choked  up  in  the  lower  channels. 
Tents  and  booths  were  set  up  on  the  level  icy  plain;  fast  horses  made  their 
best  time  on  this  novel  race-course ;  and  thousands  of  skaters  glided  hither 
and  thither,  in  every  direction.  Many  vessels  were  blockaded,  and  among 
them  the  Cunard  steamship  Britannia ;  and  to  effect  their  release  the  mer- 
chants of  Boston  paid  the  ice-cutters  of  Fresh  Pond  $15,000  to  cut  a  canal 


AVJVG'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


245 


of  great  length,  150  feet  wide,  down  which  the  Britannia  moved  to  the 
distant  sea,  escorted  by  cheering  crowds.  The  work  took  500  men  three 
days. 

When  the  Massachusetts  volunteers  were  embarking  here  for  the  south- 
ern sea-board,  during  the  Secession  War,  many  a  ship  passed  down  the 
harbor,  laden  with  the  pride  of  the  State,  —  its  brave  and  patriotic  young 
men,  bound  for  the  insurrectionary  cities.  In  dreary  November  of  1862,  the 
50th  and  51st  Massachusetts  Regiments  sailed  from  Boston,  the  one  for  New 
Orleans,  the  other  for  Newbern.  In  May  and  June,  1863,  the  54th  and  55th 
Regiments,  both  of  them  composed  of  negroes,  sailed  from  the  harbor  for 


Distant  View  of  Atlantic  Hill. 

the  Carolina  coast,  where  the  first-named  won  immortal  fame  by  its  charge 
on  Fort  Wagner.  There  was  much  suffering  here  during  the  long  October 
storm  of  1863,  when  the  3d,  5th,  and  8th  nine-months  Regiments,  and  the 
43d,  44th,  45th,  and  46th  Regiments  of  Massachusetts  volunteers  lay  in 
transports  in  the  Roads,  waiting  for  a  chance  to  get  to  sea.  At  last  they 
sailed  away,  and  clown  to  Newbern,  where  the  Carolinas  welcomed  them 
with  blander  skies,  which  have  now  for  well-nigh  twenty  years  arched  over 
the  graves  of  many  of  their  number. 

Turning  from  these  more  serious  concerns  to  study  the  chief  uses  for 
the  harbor,  as  far  as  the  average  Bostonian  goes,  we  find  that  the  custom  of 
sailing  down  these  blue  reaches  for  pleasure  has  come  down  to  us  from  the 
very  heart  of  the  Puritan  days.  As  far  back  as  July,  1687,  Judge  Sewall 
came  down  the  harbor  with  a  party  "  to  Alderton's  Point,  and  with  our  Boat 
beyond,  quite  out  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  there  catch'd  fresh  Cod." 
Throughout   the  Provincial  period,  other  parties  of  grave  gentlemen  are 


246  KING  'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

occasionally  seen  indulging  in  the  same  exciting  but  apostolic  pursuit;  and 
perhaps,  although  the  worship  of  Nature  had  not  then  come  into  vogue, 
they  sometimes  looked  with  a  kindly  eye  on  the  grandeur  of  the  sea  and 
sky.  In  a  letter  written  nearly  a  century  ago,  this  passage  appears:  "The 
gentlemen,  sometimes  by  themselves,  and  sometimes  in  company  with 
ladies,  spend  the  day  partly  on  the  water  and  partly  on  some  of  the  islands 
in  this  very  delightful  harbor."  In  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's 
volume  for  1810,  it  is  said  that  the  islands  were  at  that  time  much  resorted 
to  by  pleasure-parties  from  the  towns  on  the  main,  who  went  down  in  small 
sailboats,  and  had  quiet  family  and  society  picnics  by  the  water-side. 

The  first  steamboat  in  the  harbor  was  the  Massachusetts,  a  Philadelphia- 
built  vessel,  which  made  several  trips  to  Salem,  and  one  to  Hingham  in 
1816.  On  July  4  the  Daily  Advertiser  noted  that  she  took  a  party  of 
excursionists  "  to  sail  about  the  islands  in  this  harbor."  But  the  people 
fought  shy  of  this  new  method  of  travel,  and  the  enterprise  resulted  in  a 
heavy  loss.  The  next  winter  she  was  wrecked  on  the  North-Carolina  coast. 
In  1818  the  Eagle  ran  as  an  excursion-boat  in  Boston  Harbor.  Many  were 
the  vessels,  large  and  small,  that  succeeded  them  ;  until  now,  when  every 
variety  of  pleasure-craft  that  goes  by.  steam  is  found  here,  from  the  huge 
Empire  State,  carrying  thousands  of  passengers  daily  on  its  interminable 
decks,  to  the  wasp-like  little  steam  launches  which  skim  up  and  down  among 
the  islands.  The  Secession  War  caused  a  partial  suspension  of  the  excur- 
sion business ;  for  the  best  of  the  steamboats  were  sent  away  into  the 
Southern  seas  as  despatch-boats,  and  for  other  warlike  uses.  But  now  the 
fleet  is  larger  than  ever,  and  all  its  resources  are  taxed  to  the  uttermost. 
The  company  whose  boats  run  to  the  beach  has  100  officers,  and  carries 
80,000  excursionists  a  week,  at  a  cost  of  $1,000  a  day.  Another  company 
has  two  steamers,  running  several  times  daily,  down  Broad  Sound  and 
around  outside  to  the  Point  of  Pines,  near  the  head  of  Revere  Beach. 
Other  lines  run  to  Downer  Landing  and  Hingham ;  to  Long  Island  and 
Winthrop ;  to  Nahant ;  to  points  on  the  coast  of  the  Bay,  etc.  The  Carni- 
val of  Boston  is  two  months  long,  and  is  enacted  on  the  waters  to  the 
eastward. 

Among  the  excursionists  have  been  many  very  notable  persons,  who 
have  recorded  their  impressions  in  varying  phrases.  Harriet  Martineau,  in 
her  "  Western  Travel,"  took  this  practical  view  of  the  seaward  suburbs : 
"  The  scenery  of  Massachusetts  Bay  is  a  treasure  which  Boston  possesses 
over  and  above  what  is  enjoyed  by  her  sister  cities  of  the  East.  New  York 
has  a  host  of  beauties  about  her,  it  is  true,  —  the  North  River,  Hoboken, 
and  Staten  Island;  but  there  is  something  in  the  singularity  of  Nahant, 
and  the  wild  beauty  of  Cape  Ann,  more  captivating  than  the  crowded,  fully 
appropriated  beauties  around  New  York.     In  summer  and  autumn,  when 


A'/NG'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON   HARBOR.  247 

the  Southerners,  who  cannot  afford  to  board,  are  panting  and  sickening  in 
the  glare,  among  sands  and  swamps,  the  poorest  of  the  citizens  of  Massa- 
chusetts may  refresh  himself  amidst  the  sea-breezes  on  the  bright  promon- 
tories or  cool  caverns  of  his  native  shore."  Another  famous  Englishwoman, 
Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague,  gave  us  this  pretty  little  vignette:  "In 
returning  through  the  harbor  of  Boston  from  Nahant,  we  were  full  of 
admiration  of  its  scenery  :  the  many  lovely  islands  with  which  it  is  beauti- 
fully studded,  and  the  superb  view  of  Boston  itself,  so  nobly  surmounted 
by  its  crown-like  State  House,  enchanted  us." 

Here,  too,  among  these  green  Hesperides,  over-arched  with  a  sky  fairer 
even  than  "the  tempest-proof  pavilions  of  the  deep  Italian  air,"  many  of 
the  foremost  American  artists  have  found  their  inspiration.  Allston's  calm 
and  saintly  eyes  have  rested  upon  them  with  satisfaction ;  Copley  and  Stuart 
often  surveyed  the  blue  harbor  from  the  Boston  hills ;  Hunt,  Norton,  and 


View  toward  Boston,  from  Old  Fort,  Point  Shirley. 

Foxcroft  Cole  have  found  many  of  their  best  scenes  between  Long  Wharf 
and  Point  Allerton ;  and  the  younger  marine-painters,  Halsall,  Lansil, 
Webber,  and  others,  discover  abundant  material  here  for  many  beautiful 
pictures.  The  venerable  George  L.  Brown,  whom  the  Romans  called  "  The 
American  Claude,"  lived  until  recently  in  South  Boston,  where  his  studio 
overlooked  the  Bay ;  and  he  painted  the  scene  outspread  before  him  with 
a  brush  dipped  in  Venetian  sunsets.  Some  of  his  harbor-pictures  needed 
only  the  insertion  of  two  or  three  gondolas  and  the  inevitable  Salute  domes 
to  pass  for  scenes  on  the  Lagoon.  He  was  right  in  doing  so ;  for  the  vivid 
coloring  is  equal  in  both  the  eastward-facing  ports,  Venice  and  Boston, 
although  with  us  somewhat  harder  and  clearer.  Here  Dante  could  have 
found  that  rare  vagation  which  he  called  il  tremolar  della  marina,  as  well 
as  in  the  seas  off  Pisa  or  Ravenna.  Certainly  one  of  the  most  impressive 
of  modern  historical  paintings  is  Halsall's  "  Arrival  of  Governor  Winthrop's 
Colony  in  Boston  Harbor,"  depicting  in  glowing  colors  the  scene  which  the 
poet  describes  in  the  ballad  of  "  The  Lady  Arbella : "  — 


248  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

"  The  low  islands  part,  as  an  opening  door, 
And  they  glide  in  and  anchor  in  sight  of  the  shore ; 
Where  the  wild  flower's  fragrance,  the  strawberry's  scent, 
With  the  music  of  song-bird  and  billow  is  blent." 

Nor  have  the  poets  of  New  England  remained  uninfluenced  by  the 
charms  of  the  "  lovely  innermost  nook  of  Massachusetts  Bay."  This  ele- 
ment appears  most  strongly  in  the  works  of  Longfellow,  many  of  whose 
poems  were  written  near  the  rocks  of  Nahant,  where  he  watched  the  white 
caps,  the  flying  birds,  the  distant  sails, — 

"  Till  my  soul  is  full  of  longing 
For  the  secret  of  the  sea, 
And  the  heart  of  the  great  ocean 
Sends  a  thrilling  pulse  through  me." 

Whittier  gives  his  deepest  study  and  sweetest  songs  to  the  Merrimac 
and  the  coasts  of  Newbury  and  Hampton,  but  has  found  grace  to  paint  this 
pretty  picture  of  Boston  Harbor :  — 

"  Broad  in  the  sunshine  stretched  away, 
With  its  capes  and  islands,  the  turquoise  bay ; 
And  over  water  and  dusk  of  pines 
Blue  hills  lifted  their  faint  outlines." 

No  nobler  naval  song  has  ever  been  written  than  Holmes's  "  Ay,  tear 
her  tattered  ensign  down  !  "  and  many  another  ballad,  like  "  The  Wasp  and 
the  Hornet"  and  "The  Steamboat,"  and  many  a  breezy  allusion  in  his  other 
poems,  attest  the  inspiration  of  the  adjacent  narrow  seas.  Who  does  not 
remember  the  last  verse  of  his  "Boston  Tea  Party"?  — 

' '  The  waters  of  the  rebel  bay 

Have  kept  their  tea-leaf  savor. 
Our  old  North-Enders  in  their  spray 
Still  taste  a  Hyson  flavor." 

Lowell  is  the  viking  of  the  poets.  He  finds  inextinguishable  joy  in 
donning  a  tarpaulin  suit,  and  sailing  down  through  the  island-passages,  and 
far  out  into  the  Bay,  in  one  of  the  swift  pilot-boats  which  cruise  between  the 
capes  of  Massachusetts.  The  voice  of  the  northern  sea  is  heard  even  in 
"Sir  Launfal;"  it  breaks,  now  and  then,  into  the  rural  "  Biglow  Papers;" 
it  throbs  grandly  through  the  "  Commemoration  Ode  ;  "  and  in  the  Appledore 
poems  and  "The  Voyage  to  Vinland"  the  wild  rush  of  whitening  waves  is 
heard.  As  far  back  as  1S42,  while  at  Nantasket,  Lowell  wrote  his  "Siren- 
song-." 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  249 

Dana,  one  of  the  foremost  poets  of  a  half-century  ago,  whose  "  Buc- 
caneer" is  one  of  our  classics,  had  his  beautiful  rural  home  on  the  North 
Shore,  within  view  of  Boston  Light.  In  previous  pages  we  have  seen 
Thoreau  wandering  down  Nantaskei  Beach,  and  Stoddard  lingering  on  the 
Hingham  wharves,  and  the  author  of  "America"  enjoying  summer  rest  at 
Hull. 

Hawthorne  was  for  years  officially  connected  with  the  harbor  and  its 
commerce,  and  spent  many  a  day  on  its  blue  expanses,  and  among  its  sea- 
browned  mariners.  Dr.  Loring  tells  a  quaint  story  of  the  great  author's 
life  here :  "  An  attempt  on  the  part  of  a  rough  and  overbearing  sea-captain 
to  interfere  with  his  business  as  an  inspector  of  the  customs  in  charge  of 
his  ship  was  met  with  such  a  terrific  uprising  of  spiritual  and  physical  wrath 
that  the  dismayed  captain  fled  up  the  wharf,  and  took 
refuge  at  the  feet  of  him  who  sat  at  the  receipt  of 
customs,  inquiring,  with  a  sailor's  emotions  and  a 
sailor's  tongue,  '  What,  in  God's  name,  have  you 
sent  on  board  my  ship  as  an  inspector?'" 

Daniel  Webster  made  many  journeys  down  the 
harbor,  on  the  way  to  his   beloved  home    on   the 
Marshfield  coast,  and  acknowledged  the  deep  and 
controlling  power  which  the  adjacent  seas 
exercised  over  his  spirit.     In  one  of  his  let- 
ters,   written    from    a    great    distance,    he 
breaks,    through    his    prolonged    sentences 
about    contemporary    diplomacy  and    state- 
craft, with  the  passionate  cry,  '•  Oh,  the  sea, 
the  sea !  —  and  Marshfield  !  " 

John  Lothrop  Motley  was  familiar  with  every  cove  and  islet  inside  of 
Point  Allerton,  especially  to  the  southward  of  the  ship-channel;  and  his 
early  novel  of  "Merry-Mount  "  is  incomparably  the  best  description  of  the 
strange  people  on  the  islands  and  headlands  in  the  ante-colonial  days. 
The  elder  Henry  James  has  a  beautiful  gray-stone  villa  at  Nahant,  where 
his  son,  the  author  of  so  many  charming  international  stories,  has  often 
spent  many  of  his  summer  months.  Mr.  Howells  has  given  many  a  cheery 
day  to  the  overflowing  life  of  Nantasket,  which  he  has  described  with 
inimitable  pleasantry  and  appreciation. 

But,  whatever  may  have  been  its  incidental  interest  in  other  ways,  the 
chief  value  of  Boston  Harbor  to  America  is  found  in  its  intimate  connection 
with  commerce  and  the  navy.  The  naval  constructor  who  searched  the 
Yankee  harbors  for  a  site  on  which  to  build  a  navy-yard  must  have  borne  in 
mind  Admiral  Montague's  declaration  that  "  God  Almighty  made  Noddle's 
Island  on  purpose  for  a  dockyard;  "  for  he  reported  that  "  Boston,  from  the 


250 


KING'S  HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


natural  strength  of  its  situation,  the  great  number  of  ship-carpenters  in  its 
vicinity,  and  of  its  seamen,  must  always  remain  a  building-place,  and  a  place 
of  rendezvous  for  our  navy  of  the  first  importance ;  while  the  rise  of  tide, 
eleven  feet,  would  greatly  lessen  the  expense  of  emptying  a  dock.  .  .  .  The 
outer  harbor  of  President  and  Nantasket  Roads  affords  a  large  and  safe 
haven  for  large  fleets  from  the  weather ;  and  the  inner  harbor,  safe  from 
winds,  freshets,  and  enemy,  could  be  securely  fortified  at  an  easy  expense." 
The  first  vessel  built  at  the  new  navy-yard  was  the  sloop-of-war  Frolic  (in 
1813),  whose  broadsides  made  mournful  music  for  many  a  British  craft.  In 
1 81 5  the  three-decker  Independence,  74,  was  launched,  amid  great  rejoicings. 
After  so  many  years,  she  has  retired  into  peaceful  repose  as  receiving-ship 
of  the  Mare-Island  Navy  Yard  in  California.  The  Constitution  and  Argus 
were   built   at   adjacent    private  yards.     The  Argus  fought    many  gallant 

battles    on    the    Tripolitan 
coast   and   in    the    War   of 
181 2,  and   was    at   last 
captured  in. the  English 
Channel,  by   H.  B.   M. 
brig   Pelican,    in     18 13. 
In    1826    the    War- 
ren   was    launched 
here,   and    soon  af- 
terwards   sailed    to 
the  Far  East,  where 
she  did  memorable 
service  against    the    Greek 
pirates  in  the   yEgean  Sea. 


The  Ecll-Buoy 

The  next  year  the  handsome  sloop-of-war  Falmouth  was  built  here. 
Among  other  war-vessels  launched  at  Charlestown  were  the  Cyane,  Por- 
poise, Ply ino7ith,  Marion,  Alligator,  Boxer,  Bainbridge,  Erie,  Princeton, 
and  the  line-of-battle  ship  Vermont.  At  this  yard  were  built  (in  1842  and 
1S54,  respectively)  the  famous  wTar-ships  Czunberland  and  Merrimac. 
After  years  of  service  in  foreign  seas,  the  two  vessels  met  in  deadly 
conflict,  off  Fortress  Monroe ;  and  the  Cumberland  sank,  amid  the  horror 
of  the  whole  naval  world.  In  1858,  from  the  upper  ship-house,  the  historic 
war  steamship  Hartford,  Admiral  Farragut's  favorite  flag-ship,  was  launched. 
During  the  Secession  War  many  famous  vessels  were  built  at  the  Navy 
Yard,  including  the  iron-clads  Monadnock,  ATahant,  IVausett,  Arantuchet, 
Canonicus,  Casco,  Chimo,  Shawnee,  Squando,  and  Suncook.  Of  the  thirty 
other  frigates  built  here  during  the  same  period,  and,  as  it  were,  born  into 
Boston  Harbor,  the  most  notable  were  the  Wachusett,  which  captured  the 
rebel  gunboat  Florida j  the  Htnon,  whose  fatal  wreck  is  still  remembered; 


CHARLESTOWN    NAVY   YARD. 


252  KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

the  Tallapoosa,  Winooski,  Ashuelot,  and  Housatonic.  Thirty  steamers  and 
numerous  sailing-vessels  besides  were  refitted  here  for  naval  purposes. 
Most  of  these  were  prizes,  captured  by  the  blockading  squadrons  off  the 
Southern  ports.     Among  them  was  the  formidable  rebel  ram  Atlanta. 

The  receiving-ship,  lying  off  the  yard,  is  the  famous  old  frigate  Wabash, 
which  won  many  a  hard  knock  during  the  Secession  War.  Beyond  here 
are  the  vast  dry-dock,  rolling-mill,  brass-works,  rope-walk,  barracks,  gun- 
park,  and  battery  of  thirty  cannon.  Here  rest  the  remains  of  the  huge 
double-turreted  iron-clad  Miantonomoh ;  and  in  one  of  the  ship-houses  the 
ancient  three-decker  Virginia  has  stood  on  the  stocks  for  more  than  half 
a  century.  In  the  stream,  towards  Chelsea,  lie  the  decaying  old  war-ships 
Ohio,  Iowa,  and  Connecticut. 

The  maritime  enterprise  of  Boston  began  early.  It  was  but  a  year  after 
the  founding  of  the  colony,  that  Gov.  Winthrop  launched  the  barque  Bless- 
ing of  the  Bay ;  and  in  1635  the  ship  Seafort,  400  tons,  was  built.  At  first, 
the  price  of  passage  from  London  to  Boston  was  £$  ;  and  goods  were 
freighted  at  ^4  a  ton.  Winthrop's  colonists  came  over  under  this  schedule. 
The  average  time  of  passage  was  sixty  days.  The  first  trading-vessels 
went  to  the  Indian  country  for  corn,  and  presently  Dutch  ships  began  to 
come  in  heavily  laden.  A  profitable  commerce  sprang  up  with  the  Dutch 
and  Swedish  towns  on  the  Delaware  and  Hudson ;  with  Fayal  and  Madeira, 
and  the  Isle  of  Sable.  Ships  came  in  continually  from  England:  there 
were  298  of  them  that  arrived  in  the  first  ten  years,  bringing  21,200  pas- 
sengers, from  whom  descended  the  chief  New-England  families  of  to-day. 
Lord  Bellomont  reported,  in  1698,  that  the  town  owned  194  sailing-craft, 
adding,  "  I  believe  I  may  venture  to  say  that  there  are  more  good  vessels 
belonging  to  the  town  of  Boston  than  to  all  Scotland  and  Ireland."  In  1738 
there  were  41  topsail  vessels  built  here. 

For  many  decades  Massachusetts  was  the  Holland  of  America,  the 
headquarters  of  the  carrying-trade  by  sea;  and  Boston  had  fully  500  sail 
of  vessels,  excluding  fishing  and  coasting  craft.  The  commerce  with  Brit- 
ain, the  Dutch  colonies,  Surinam  and  Martinique,  was  large  and  lucrative. 
As  early  as  1720  the  royal  customs  officers  reported  an  average  of  24,000 
tons  of  shipping  as  clearing  from  Boston  yearly.  After  the  Revolution  an 
active  trade  sprung  up  between  this  port  and  the  Isles  of  France,  China, 
and  India;  and  many  a  neat  little  ship  of  300  tons  started  hence  on  the  long 
voyage,  with  supercargoes  from  the  then  rising  families  of  Derby,  Shaw, 
Perkins,  and  Silsbee.  The  Columbia  sailed  in  1787,  and  discovered  the 
famous  Oregon  river  which  still  bears  her  name ;  exchanged  her  cargo  of 
Yankee  wares  for  otter-furs  brought  in  by  the  Indians;  called  at  the  Sand- 
wich Islands;  visited  Canton,  where  her  furs  were  exchanged  for  tea;  and 
in  1790  sailed  up  Boston  Harbor,  firing  Federal  salutes.     She  was  attended 


AYA(/'.V   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


'53 


in  this  great  voyage  by  the  90-ton  sloop  Washington,  the  first  vessel  of  her 
class  to  circumnavigate  the  earth.  The  brig  Hope  then  sailed  for  the  North- 
west Coast  and  China,  and  in  her  voyage  discovered  the  Marquesas  Islands. 
In  1790  the  arrivals  from  abroad  at  this  port  numbered  455  vessels,  exclu- 
sive of  1,200  sail  of  coasters;  and  in  a  single  day  as  many  as  70  vessels 
left  the  harbor,  bound  for  all  parts  of  the  globe.  Most  of  these  Indiamen 
were  well  armed,  and  had  officers  of  naval  grades,  and  large  crews,  compe- 
tent to  protect  their  cargoes,  which  were  usually  valued  at  several  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  In  the  words  of  the  time,  these  gallant  little  frigates  were 
"prepared  to  fight  their  way  for  rich  cargoes."  In  the  East  they  were  an- 
noyed by  Chinese  and  Malay  pirates;  in  the  Mediterranean,  by  Barbary 
corsairs ;  and  on  the  high  seas  everywhere  by  British  and  French  frigates 
and  letters-of-marque.  Their  voyages  were  through  such  vast  distances  that 
they  had  need  to  be 
prepared  for  all  man- 
ner of  receptions. 
Many  were  the  Bos- 
ton ships  that  round- 
ed Cape  Horn;  trad- 
ed their  Yankee  car- 
goes for  otter-furs 
and  other  products 
of  the  North-west 
Coast ;  sold  them  in 
China  for  teas  and 
silks;  crossed  to 
Valparaiso,  and  left 
parts  of  these  pre- 
cious goods  in  exchange  for  copper ;  carried  the  metal  to  England ;  and 
finally  felt  the  waters  of  Nantasket  Roads  ripple  along  their  keels,  with  each 
supercargo  rejoicing  in  a  profit  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  made  for 
the  owners  out  of  the  venturesome  voyage. 

At  last  the  Napoleonic  decrees  and  the  War  of  181 2  came,  inflicting 
severe  blows  on  this  flourishing  commerce.  Not  only  were  there  licensed 
buccaneers  on  the  ocean,  but  even  the  home-port  was  closed  by  hostile 
war-fleets.  Occasionally  a  swift  Boston  Indiaman  would  dash  through  the 
blockaders,  and  enter  the  harbor  safely,  deep-laden  with  silks  and  teas  from 
Canton.  In  this  manner  the  Rambler,  Jacob  Jones,  and  Kamaahmaah 
escaped  the  Grampus  and  Glendower,  British  frigates  which  were  watching 
for  them  in  the  Bay.  They  went  up  through  the  islands,  firing  salutes  from 
their  batteries,  and  waking  the  echoes  of  the  Blue  Hills  with  guns  that  had 
roared  in  the  China  seas,  or  off  the  Polynesian  coral-reefs. 


At  the  Harbor's  Mouth. 


254  KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 

The  Cunard  Line  of  ocean  steamships  was  founded  in  1840,  and  for 
eight  years  Boston  was  their  only  American  port.  Here  came  in,  bi-weekly, 
the  Unicorn,  Britannia,  Acadia,  Caledonia,  and  other  Cunarders,  —  awk- 
ward paddle-wheel  boats,  largely  filled  up  with  coal-bunkers.  Twice  (in 
1844  and  1857)  the  harbor  was  frozen  up;  and  each  time  the  citizens  had 
long  canals  cut  through  the  ice,  down  to  Nantasket  Roads. 

In  1844  Train's  Liverpool  packets  began  their  voyages,  which  were 
made  regularly  once  a  month  for  many  years.  These  were  handsome  Med- 
ford  and  East-Boston  ships,  and  formed  a  large  fleet.  The  same  firm  which 
founded  this  line  now  runs  the  Warren  Line  of  steamships.  Another  class 
of  vessels  made  the  long  voyages  to  Riga,  Cronstadt,  and  other  Russian 
ports;  carrying  sugar  and  cotton,  and  bringing  back  hemp  and  iron.  This 
trade  began  as  early  as  1783,  and  continued  for  three-quarters  of  a  century. 

In  1855  the  commerce  of  Boston  had  reached  its  height,  and  541,644 
tons  of  shipping  were  owned  here.  The  rise  of  New  York  as  a  centre  of 
commerce,  the  unwise  local  legislation  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  depre- 
dations of  rebel  privateers,  seriously  injured  the  sea-trade  of  Boston.  In 
1879-80  even  the  Cunarders  were  withdrawn  from  this  port.  In  1869  not  a 
single  steamer  sailed  from  Boston  to  Europe  direct.  Of  late  years  the  cur- 
rent of  commerce  has  changed,  and  now  the  sailings  of  steamships  for 
Europe  average  more  than  one  a  day.  In  1880  there  were  196  steamships 
from  Boston  to  Liverpool  alone,  upwards  of  40  each  to  Glasgow  and  Lon- 
don, and  37  to  Hull  and  West  Hartlepool.  Various  new  branches  of  com- 
merce have  arisen  under  these  new  conditions.  In  1875  the  first  shipment 
of  cattle  was  made  to  England,  and  this  trade  now  amounts  to  $10,000,000 
a  year.  Low  rates  in  freighting  cotton  hence  have  caused  its  export  value 
to  rise  from  $135,000  in  1870  to  over  $7,000,000  in  1881.  The  total  value  of 
Boston's  exports  in  1850  was  $7,000,000;  in  1881  it  had  risen  to  $72,000,000. 
The  great  merchants  and  railway  strategists  of  the  port  claim  that  it  has  bet- 
ter terminal  facilities  than  any  other  American  city  ;  and  are  firm  in  the  faith 
that  it  will  never  occupy  a  relative  position  lower  than  its  present  one,  that 
of  second  port  of  the  United  States.  Between  1869  and  1881  inclusive  the 
foreign  vessels  entering  the  port  brought  in  upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion of  immigrants.  Now  such  enormous  steamships  as  the  Parisian  and 
the  Hooper  frequently  enter  the  harbor,  — vessels  so  huge  that  all  the  mem- 
bers of  Gov.  Winthrop's  colony  could  be  carried  upon  one  of  them,  and  yet 
its  decks  would  be  lonely.  Professor  Mitchell  reported  that  Boston  has  the 
best  harbor  in  the  world,  perfectly  land-locked,  and  shielded  from  heavy 
winds,  and  possessing  many  advantages,  besides  being  a  day's  sail  nearer 
Europe  than  New  York  is.  There  is,  therefore,  great  reason  to  hope  that 
Nantasket  Roads  may  become  an  avenue  of  nations,  the  portal  of  a  grander 
Venice  of  the  West,  the  kindly  rival  of  the  New-York  Narrows. 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  255 

Many  years  ago,  in  an  attempt  to  break  a  galling  blockade  by  British 
men-of-war,  the  great  naval  battle  took  place  between  the  Chesapeake  and 
Shannon,  on  June  1,  1813,  which  resulted  in  one  of  the  best  ships  of  the 
American  navy  being  conquered  and  carried  away  within  sight  of  Boston 
Light. 

While  the  Shannon,  38,  Capt.  Broke,  had  been  cruising  off  Boston 
Harbor,  her  crew  received  careful  drilling  and  practice  in  target-firing,  and 
reached  a  high  and  efficient  state  of  discipline.  The  U.  S.  frigate  Chesa- 
peake, 38,  Capt.  Lawrence,  lay  in  port,  and  Broke  sent  in  a  manly  challenge 
for  her  to  come  out  and  fight;  but,  before  this  missive  reached  its  destina- 
tion, the  American  ship  was  already  standing  out  to  sea.  The  Shannon  had 
330  men  and  52  guns  (firing  a  broadside  of  550  pounds);  the  Chesapeake 
had  379  men  and  50  guns  (542  pounds  in  a  broadside).  The  crew  of  the 
American  vessel  were,  however,  unpractised,  half-drilled,  and  dissatisfied 
on  account  of  not  receiving  prize-money  due.  At  one  o'clock  the  Chesa- 
peake rounded  Boston  Light,  and  stood  off  after  her  antagonist.  About 
four  hours  later  she  hauled  up,  nearly  off  Marblehead,  and  soon  opened 
fire  on  the  approaching  American.  The  action  immediately  became  very 
hot,  and  broadside  after  broadside  roared  from  either  ship,  at  close  quarters. 
In  the  first  six  minutes  the  Chesapeake  suffered  terribly  in  men  and  mate- 
rial ;  the  decks  were  almost  hidden  by  flying  splinters,  hammocks,  and  other 
debris;  Lieut.  Ludlow  had  fallen ;  and  Capt.  Lawrence,  mortally  wounded 
by  Lieut.  Law  of  the  British  marines,  had  been  carried  below,  exclaiming, 
"  Don't  give  up  the  ship  ! "  Twelve  minutes  after  the  first  gun  was  fired, 
Capt.  Broke  boarded  the  Chesapeake,  followed  by  20  men  ;  and  after  some 
hot  fighting  with  scattered  parties  of  American  sailors  and  marines  (the 
Portuguese  and  other  foreigners  who  composed  a  part  of  the  crew  having 
fled  between  decks),  the  stars  and  stripes  were  hauled  down. 

The  battle  lasted  just  fifteen  minutes,  during  which  the  Chesapeake  was 
struck  by  362  cannon-shot,  and  lost  61  men  killed  and  85  wounded ;  and 
the  Shannon  received  158  cannon-shot,  and  lost  83  men  in  killed  and 
wounded.  Capt.  Broke,  who  had  been  severely  wounded,  was  made  a  baro- 
net; and  the  chief  American  officers,  Lawrence  and  Ludlow,  were  buried  at 
Halifax  with  military  honors.  The  hills  and  headlands  from  Hull  to  Mar- 
blehead had  been  covered  by  thousands  upon  thousands  of  spectators  of 
this  mighty  naval  duel ;  and  when  the  British  flag  was  seen  rising  through 
the  cannon-smoke  to  the  mast-head  of  the  Chesapeake,  a  profound  grief 
took  possession  of  the  assembled  multitudes,  who  had  never  doubted  that 
the  gallant  Lawrence  would  bring  the  Britisher  captive  into  Boston  Bay. 
Not  long  after  the  close  of  the  war,  of  which  this  was  so  sad  an  episode, 
new  departments  of  commerce  came  into  existence ;  and  it  was  but  a  few 
years  before  steam-vessels  appeared  in  the  Bay. 


256 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


After  glancing  briefly  at  a  few  historic,  naval,  and  commercial  facts,  let 
us  take  a  purely  contemplative  view,  in  the  little  poem  on  Boston  Harbor, 
written  by  Robert  Southey,  once  Poet-laureate  of  England.  The  lines 
record,  in  placid  Lake-country  measures,  the  descriptions  qf  the  scene  given 
to  Southey  by  his  Boston  friend  George  Ticknor. 


i{  Scattered  within  the  peaceful  bay 

Many  a  fair  isle  and  islet  lay, 
And  rocks  and  banks  which  threatened  there 

No  peril  to  the  mariner. 
The  shores  which  bent  around  were  gay 
With  maizols,  and  with  pastures  green, 
And  rails  and  hedge-row  trees  between 

And  fields  for  harvest  white, 
And  dwellings  sprinkled  up  and  down; 
And  round  about  the  clustered  town, 


Which  rose  in  sunshine  bright, 
Was  many  a  sheltered  garden  spot, 
And  many  a  sunny  orchard  plot, 

And  bowers  which  might  invite 
The  studious  man  to  take  his  seat 
Within  their  quiet,  cool  retreat, 

When  noon  was  at  its  height. 
No  heart  that  was  at  ease,  I  ween, 
Could  gaze  on  that  surrounding  scene 

Without  a  calm  delight." 


Ralph   Waldo  Emerson  shall  have  the  last  and  highest  word  in   this 
chapter  of  mosaics  and  fragments  :  — 


'■  The  rocky  nook  with  its  hill-tops  three 
Looked  eastward  from  the  farms, 

And  twice  each  day  the  flowing  sea 
Took  Boston  in  its  arms  ; 
The  men  of  yore  were  stout  and  poor, 
And  sailed  for  bread  to  every  shore. 


:  The  waves  that  rocked  them  on  the  deep 

To  them  their  secret  told : 
Said  the  winds  that  sung  the  lads  to  sleep, 
'  Like  us  be  free  and  bold  ! ' 
The  honest  waves  refuse  to  slaves 
The  empire  of  the  ocean  caves." 


The  Outer  Reefs. 


KING'S   /I  AX  J)  HOOK   OF  BOSTON  //AA7>'OA' 


'■S7 


3Eirursions  in  iHassadjttsetts  -Bag* 

THE  EMPIRE  STATE.  —  PROVINCETOWN  AND  THE   ISLES   OF   SHOALS.— 
THE  MAGNIFICENT  TRIP. 

NE  of  the  chief  factors  in  the  summer  pleasure  of 
Boston  is  the  immense  three-decked  steamer  Empire 
State,  of  1,700  tons,  with  a  length  of  320  feet,  and  80 
feet  beam,  and  spacious  and  beautiful  saloons,  dining- 
rooms,  promenade-decks,  and  other  luxurious  appurte- 
nances, besides  the  more  important  items  of  a  hull  of 
almost  imperishable  live-oak,  new  boilers,  a  highly  dis- 
ciplined crew,  and  a  vigilant  and  veteran  captain.     The 

hours  of  sailing  are  so  arranged  that  people  who  live  within  forty  or  fifty  miles 

of  Boston  ma)-  breakfast  at  home,  take  a  sea-voyage  of  a  hundred  miles,  and 

have  supper  at  home,  all  on  the  same  da}-.     The  expense  of  the  journey  is 

much    reduced    by   the    commutation    of 

rates    on    the    suburban   railways.       The 

trips  to  the  North   Shore,  the  Shoals,  the 

Merrimac     River,    Provincetown, 

Highland  Light,  and  the  Fishing 

Grounds,  take  all  day ;  the  steamer 

leaving  at  10  A.M.,  and  returning 

by  7  p.m.  The  fare  is  one  dol- 
lar.    The  voyage  in  the  Bay  takes 

from    2.30  to  5.30  p.m.  ;  and  the 

moonlight  excursions  take  from  8 

to  10.45  P-M-  >  the  fare  on  each  of 

these  two  being  fifty  cents.     The 

boat  does  not  go  out  unless  the 

weather  is  favorable.    Her  pier  is 

at  Battery  Wharf  (379  Commer- 
cial Street),  on  the  route  of  the 

horse-cars  to  Chelsea  Ferry  and 

East  Boston.     So  perfect  is  the 

discipline  maintained  on  the  boat 

that    disturbances  are  unknown, 

and  many  parties  of  ladies  and  children  go  out  on  the  excursions  without 

escort,  quite  secure  against  annoyance.     On  the  all-day  trips  dinners  are 


Captain  J.   M.    Phillips. 


258 


KING'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


served  on  board,  with  the  greatest  possible  variety  of  delicacies,  at  reason- 
able prices.  The  chief  owners  of  this  huge  floating  palace  are  two  broth- 
ers, of  Old-Colony  extraction,  Messrs.  E.  Burt  Phillips  (of  the  American 
Steam  Gauge  Co.)  and  J.  M.  Phillips,  the  latter  of  whom  is  its  captain ; 
and  the  business  manager  is  Mr.  Harry  A.  M'Glenen,  who  is  favorably 
known  to  the  people  from  his  connection  with  the  Boston  Theatre. 

The  favorite  route  taken  by  the  Empire  State  is  that  which  has  become 
widely  known  as  "  The  Magnificent 
Trip,'1  leading  down  the  beautiful 
harbor,  by  the  three  guardian  forts, 
the  municipal  buildings  on  Deer 
Island,  Boston   Light,  and  the  adja- 


cent rocky  islets,  and  out  into  the 
open  Bay.  Here  it  passes  a  long 
panoramic  line  of  famous  summer 
resorts  and  cities,  —  Lynn,  with  the 
rocky  heights  of  Saugus  and  the 
Middlesex  Fells  beyond;  far-projecting  Nahant,  with  Egg  Rock  off  its 
northern  point;  the  patrician  red-roofed  villas  and  hotels  of  Swampscott; 
the  gray  old  legend-haunted  towns  of  Marblehead  and  Salem,  with  their 
spires  and  towers  wreathed  with  imperishable  chaplets  of  poetry  and  ro- 
mance; and  the  populous  coasts  of  Beverly  Farms,  Manchester-by-the-Sea, 
and  Magnolia,  beloved  by  artists,  with  the  great  Essex  woods  outlined 
against  the  horizon,  and  the  black  reef  of  Norman's  Woe  in  the  sea. 
Next  the  white  houses  of  Gloucester  appear,  and  in  its  harbor  lie  many 
vessels  of  America's  foremost  fishing-fleet.      The  steamer  holds  its  steady 


AVA'G'S  J/ANDBOOk'  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


259 


way  past  Eastern  Point;  around  the  tall  twin  granite  light-houses  on  Thach- 
er's  Island;  off  the  granite  quarries  of  Rockport  and  the  summer-hotels  of 

Pigeon  Cove;   and  around  into  Ipswich 
Bay,  to  the  lovely  shores  of  Annisquam, 
and  within  sight  of  the  hills  of  Newbury. 
Beyond  the  compass  of  this  journey 
are  two  other   trips    which   the  Empire 
State  frequently  makes,  —  one  reaching 
to    the    mouth    of   the  Merrimac    River, 
famous  in  the  ballads  of   Whittier   and 
other  poets,  and  in  full  view  of  the  an- 
cient sea-city  of  Newburyport;   and  the 
other,  passing  far  beyond  this  point,  and 
terminating  at  the  Isles  of  Shoals, 
those  wonderful    surf-beaten   crags, 
far  out  in  the  ocean,  with  their  great 
summer-hotels  and    the    well-known 
cottage  of  Celia  Thaxter.     The  voy- 
age across  the  Bay  to  Provincetown 
is  full  of  interest,  and  attracts  many 


Burt  Phillips 


people  who  desire  to  get  well-nigh 
out  of  sight  of  land.  After  passing 
the  Light,  the  steamer  heads  boldly 
out  to  sea,  with  the  South  and  North 
Shores  unfolding  on  the  right  and  left 
quarters,  and  after  a  time  the  long  low 
line  of  outer  Cape  Cod  rises  from  the 
level  eastern  horizon.  A  landing  is 
made  at  the  quaint  old  mari-  ,„.>- 

time  village  of  Provincetown,  V\ 

which  has  been  so  long  famous  ;;  •  , 

in  the  annals  of  New  England,  »V    - 

and  has  an  added  interest  this  '•'>    - 

season  in  being  the  head-quar- 
ters of  Admiral  Cooper  and  the 
North-Atlantic  squadron,  in- 
cluding the  Tennessee,  Al- 
liance, Vandalia,  and  Enter- 
prise. Occasionally  the  vessel 
passes  around  Cape  Cod  to 
give  tourists  a  view  of  the  cliffs  which  face  the  open  sea,  towards  Europe  ; 
and  runs  down  as  far  as  the  famous  Highland  Licrht. 


Harry  A.   M'Glenen,  the  Business  Manager. 


260 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


Once  a  week  the  Empire  State  goes  out  on  a  fishing-excursion,  running 
out  to  the  Middle  Ground,  which  is  between  the  capes  of  Massachusetts, 
about  twenty-five  miles  from  Boston  Light.  The  fortunate  person  who 
secures  the  largest  fish  receives  a  dollar  for  each  pound  of  its  weight. 

The  usual  afternoon  trip  in  the  Bay  is  patronized  by  many  thousands  of 
tourists,  and  affords  the  best  attainable  views  of  the  North  and  South 
Shores.  The  course  is  laid  along  the  outside  of  Nantasket  Beach  and  the 
Cohasset   shores   to    Minot's    Light,  giving  an  admirable  prospect  of   the 


V'£»/.,:\ii 


MW 


Battery  Wharf,   Boston. 


hotels,  headlands,  and  villages,  and  of  the  great  stone  light-house,  rising 
directly  from  the  lonely  sea.  From  thence  the  steamer  runs  northward 
nearly  to  Marblehead  Neck,  and  returns  along  the  North  Shore. 

On  moonlight  evenings  the  steamer  leaves  her  pier  at  about  eight  o'clock, 
and  runs  out  past  Boston  Light,  and  along  the  front  of  Nantasket  Beach, 
which  is  at  such  times  illuminated  with  bonfires,  electric  lights,  and  rockets, 
and  presents  a  scene  of  wonderful  brilliancy  and  Oriental  weirdness.  On 
the  return  voyage  the  saloon  is  used  for  dancing,  the  best  of  orchestral  music 
being  given  by  the  band ;  and  by  eleven  o'clock  the  boat  reaches  her  pier. 


KING  'S   HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  JI ARBOR, 


26l 


&  &ca=Erqj  to  tjje  lEastfoartf* 


THE  EASTERN   COAST  TO   ROCKLAND,   BANGOR,  AND  MOUNT  DESERT.— 
BOSTON   AND   BANGOR   STEAMSHIP   COMPANY. 

S  early  as  the  year  1823  there  was  a  regular  line  of 
steamers  between  Boston  and  Bath,  and  thence  to 
Boothbay,  Camden,  Belfast,  Sedgwick,  and  Eastport; 
and  ten  years  later  the  Boston  and  Bangor  Steamship 
Company  began  its  operations,  its  first  boat  having 
been  the  Bangor,  which  was  sent  to  the  Mediterranean 
in  1842,  to  carry  Mohammedan  pilgrims,  and  after- 
wards became  a  Turkish  frigate.  Soon  afterward 
Captain  Memnemon  Sanford  established  a  new  line 
between  Bangor  and  Boston;  which  continued  under  his  name  until  1882, 
with  no  serious  interruption  except  during  the  Secession  War,  when  most 
of  its  boats  were  chartered  for  military  puiyjoses.  In  1882  the  corporate 
name  of  the  "Sanford  Steamship  Company"  was  changed  to  the  "Boston 
and  Bangor  Steamship  Company,"  of  which  Mr.  William  H.  Hill  is  Presi- 
dent; Mr.  William  H.  Hill,  jun.,  Treasurer;  and  Capt.  James  Littlefield, 
Superintendent. 

The  Penobscot,  launched  at  East  Boston  in  1S82,  is  the  handsomest  and 
stanchest  steamship  east  of  Boston,  and  has  luxurious  accommodations  for 
560  first-class  passengers,  and  ample  protection  against  perils  of  fire  or 
storm.  There  are  spacious  saloons,  covered  with  Wilton  carpet,  and  fur- 
nished in  black-walnut;  six  score  of  airy  state-rooms,  besides  several  bridal 
suites ;  breezy  promenade-decks,  stairways  of  polished  oak,  lines  of  brilliant 
chandeliers,  and  a  great  variety  of  ingenious  and  powerful  machinery,  for 
different  purposes  and  emergencies.  The  wheels  are  provided  with  Holland 
Patent  Paddles,  which  obviate  the  noise  and  tremor  usually  noticed  on  side- 
wheel  steamers.  Boston  Harbor  is  justly  proud  of  this  noblest  of  its 
children.  The  Katahdin  is  a  fine  steamship  of  1,234  tons,  built  at  New 
York  in  1863,  at  a  cost  of  $250,000,  and  with  engines  of  400  horse-power. 
It  has  70  state-rooms  and  210  cabin-berths.  The  Cambridge  is  a  1500-ton 
vessel,  built  at  New  York  in  1867,  with  accommodations  for  450  passen 
gers,  commodious  saloons  and  state-rooms,  and  an  abundance  of  life-boats. 
This  is  also  a  favorite  route  to  Moosehead  Lake  and  other  points  in  the 
Maine  wilderness  which  are  reached  by  the  afternoon  trains  from  Bangor, 
and  to  the  mining  districts  east  of  Penobscot  Bay.     A  steamship  of  this 


262 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


line  leaves  Boston  every  week-day,  returning  from  Bangor  the  following 
clay  at  1 1  a.m.  The  captains,  pilots,  and  other  officers  of  the  fleet  are  all 
old  and  experienced  mariners,  familiar  with  every  mile  of  the  coast,  and 
vigilant  to  a  fault.  The  fares  are  very  low:  the  rate  from  Boston  to  Rock- 
land and  return  being  but  $4.00;  to  Bangor  and  return,  $6.00;  to  Moose- 
head  Lake  (Mount  Kineo  House)  and  return,  $12.00;  to  Bar  Harbor  and 
return,  $8.50.     The  wharf  is  reached  by  the  East-Boston  horse-cars. 


The  New  Steamship  "Penobscot,"   Boston  and   Bangor  S.  S.  Co. 

The  steamships  of  this  line  leave  Lincoln's  Wharf  (after  Oct.  1,  Fos- 
ter's Wharf),  Boston,  aj  5  p.m.,  and  move  down  the  harbor  with  stateliness 
and  speed,  looking  down  on  the  many  vessels,  steamers,  coasters,  and 
yachts  which  flit  in  and  out  among  the  islands  on  every  side.  The  course 
is  the  same  which  is  described  on  pp.  21-27,  down  to  Deer  Island,  where 
it  turns  to  the  north-east,  and  runs  out  through  Broad  Sound,  into  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  with  the  ragged  and  rocky  Brewster  islands  and  ledges  on 
the  right,  and  the  beaches  of  Winthrop  and  Lynn  on  the  left.  The  hills 
and  islands,  villages  and  summer-hotels,  of  the  North  Shore  are  in  sight, — 
Nahant  and  Swampscott,  Manchester  and  Magnolia;  and  the  tall  stone 
light-houses  on  Thacher's  Island,  off  the  end  of  Cape  Ann,  are  passed, 
close  at  hand,  before  the  summer  sunset  comes.  The  course  is  laid  thence 
across  the  Gulf  of  Maine  to  Monhegan,  whose  light  cheers  the  darkness  of 
early  morning.  At  dawn  the  vessel  passes  White  Head,  and  enters  Penob- 
scot Bay,  with  craggy  islands  on  the  right,  including  the  famous  Dix  Island, 


A'/NG'S  HANDBOOK'  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


263 


with  whose  granite  many  Government  buildings  have  been  constructed.  Soon 
after  rounding  the  picturesque  promontory  of  Owl's  Head,  the  vessel  reaches 
Rockland,  where  it  connects  with  the  Mount-Desert  boat.  Thence  it  goes 
northward  up  the  bay,  toward  the  noble  blue  mountains,  and  touches  at  Cam- 
den, a  sort  of  maritime  North  Conway,  under  the  lofty  peaks  of  Megunticook. 
The  next  landing  (in  summer)  is  at  Northport,  a  famous  camp-meeting 
ground,  whose  newspaper  bears  the  appropriate  name  of  "  The  Sea  Breeze." 
Beyond  this  place  of  tabernacles,  the  steamer  emerges  from  the  thronging 
islands  of  Penobscot  Bay,  and  runs  across  a  lake-like  inner  harbor,  of  large 
proportions,  to  the  handsome  little  maritime  city  of  Belfast,  whose  houses 
rise  in  imposing  lines  along  the  hill  at  the  mouth  of  the  Passagassawaukeag 
River.     This  locality  was    settled  in    1770,  by  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians, 


Lincoln's  Wharf,    Eoston. 


who  were  driven  away  by  the  British  troops  nine  years  later.  It  is  eighteen 
miles  from  Camden.  After  leaving  Belfast,  occasional  glimpses  of  historic 
old  Castine  are  obtained  on  the  right,  across  the  bay,  with  its  memories  and 
traditions  of  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims,  Cardinal  Richelieu's  gay  French  sol- 
diers, the  wars  of  D'Aulney  and  La  Tour,  the  feudal  rule  of  the  Baron  de 
St.  Castin.  the  long  occupation  by  garrisons  of  red-coated  British  infantry, 
and  the  annihilation  of  a  great  American  fleet  by  a  half-dozen  plucky  English 
frigates.  At  five  miles  above  Belfast,  the  boat  rounds  in  under  the  lee  of 
Brigadier  Island,  and  stops  at  the  maritime  village  of  Searsport,  on  the  vast 
domain  once  owned  by  David  Sears  of  Boston.  Once  more  the  steamer 
works  out  into  the  bay,  with  the  long  Castine  peninsula  on  the  eastward. 
The  next  stopping-place  is  Fort  Point,  with  a  great  summer-hotel  looking 
down  across  the  distant  islands  and  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  upper  bay. 


264 


KING  'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


Here  are  the  ruins  of  Fort  Povvnal,  which  was  built  in  1758  by  Governor 
Pownal  of  Massachusetts,  at  the  cost  of  the  British  Parliament,  to  defend 
the  entrance  to  the  Penobscot  River.  Seventeen  years  later,  when  Yankee- 
dom  became  rebellious,  the  British  frigate  Canseau  sailed  up  here;  and  her 
blue-jackets  destroyed  the  works  and  levelled  the  parapets  of  the  best  fort 
in  Maine. 

After  leaving  Fort  Point,  the  course  lies  up  the  famous  Penobscot  River, 
whose  sources  lie  hundreds  of  miles  away  in  the  deer-haunted  wilderness, 
among  bright  lakes  where  no  navigation  but  that  of  canoes  has  yet  been 
attempted.  Swinging  round  through  the  rapid  currents  of  the  Bucksport 
Narrows,  the  great  vessel  advances  to  the  wharf  at  Bucksport,  a  beautiful 
old  village  of  farmers,  fishermen,  and  shipbuilders,  famous  also  among  the 
followers  of   Wesley  for  its  great  East-Maine    Conference  Seminary.     On 


Steamship   "  Katahdin,"   Boston  and   Bangor  S.   S.  Co. 


the  opposite  shore  rise  the  frowning  walls  and  heavy  batteries  of  Fort  Knox, 
a  modern  work  erected  by  the  Government  to  seal  up  the  Penobscot  River 
against  hostile  ships,  and  protect  the  vast  shipping  and  lumbering  interests 
of  Bangor. 

About  five  miles  above  is  the  landing  of  Winterport,  at  the  head  of 
winter  navigation.  The  river  grows  more  narrow  and  sinuous,  with  pic- 
turesque highlands  near  its  banks,  and  the  scattered  farmhouses  of  the 
hardy  country-people  of  Maine.  Many  vessels  are  passed  in  the  stream, 
bound  in  and  out;  and  the  indications  of  a  prosperous  commerce  increase 
on  every  side.  A  short  stop  is  made  at  Hampden,  which  the  British  fleet 
captured  in  1814,  after  a  most  wearisome  attempt  to  catch  the  flying  militia 
regiments,  drawn  up  here  to  give  battle.  The  United-States  corvette  John 
Adams  was,  destroyed  during  this  farcical  engagement.    A  few  miles  beyond, 


A'/NG'S  IIANDBOOA'  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


265 


the  steamer  reaches  (at  about  noon)  her  terminal  port,  the  great  lumber 
metropolis  of  Bangor,  twenty  leagues  from  the  sea,  and  crowning  a  line  of 
graceful  hills  with  the  homes  of  upwards  of  twenty  thousand  people.  Here 
the  enterprising  tourist  may  take  train  for  the  chief  points  in  central  and 
western  Maine  and  the  Maritime  Provinces. 

The  swift  and  stanch  steamer  Mottut  Desert  (belonging  to  the  Boston 
and  Bangor  S.  S.  Co.)  leaves  Rockland  early  in  the  morning,  after  the  arrival 
of  the  boat  from  Boston,  and  stretches  across  Penobscot  Bay  to  the  central 
group  of  islands,  which  it  traverses  through  the  charming  scenery  of  Fox- 
Island  Thoroughfare,  touching  at  several  quaint  maritime  villages,  and  giving 


Steamship  f'  Cambridge,"   Boston  and   Bangor  S.  S.  Co 


noble  views  of  the  Camden  Mountains,  the  remote  seaward  cliffs  of  Isle  au 
Haut.  and  the  bold  peaks  of  Mount  Desert.  After  crossing  Placentia  Bay 
it  visits  Bass  Harbor  and  South-West  Harbor,  rounds  the  bold  eastern  head- 
land of  Mount  Desert,  and  runs  up  Frenchman's  Bay,  by  a  long  line  of 
spray-whitened  cliffs  and  many  a  costly  villa,  to  Bar  Harbor,  the  eastern 
Newport,  which  is  reached  in  time  for  dinner  (the  distance  being  65  miles). 
From  thence  the  course  extends  to  the  head  of  the  bay,  to  Sullivan.  This 
trip  across  Penobscot  Bay  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  America,  rich 
in  every  variety  of  marine  and  coast  scenery,  light-houses  and  beacons, 
straits  and  bays,  and  grand  mountains,  with  the  electric  sea-air  sweeping 
over  all.  The  Mount  Desert  is  almost  new,  and  has  a  wide  renown  for  her 
speed  and  her  seaworthy  qualities.     The  greater  part  of  her  voyage  leads 


266 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


through  a  labyrinth  of  islands  and  rocks,  along  narrow  passages  swept  by 
the  salt  tides,  and  across  sheltered  bays  and  fiords,  giving  the  greatest 
imaginable  variety  of  scenic  effects,  and  a  journey  full  of  keen  interest. 
The  strange  little  maritime  villages  at  which  she  stops  —  like  Green's  Land- 
ing and  Swan's  Island  —  have  great  attractions  for  all  who  delight  in  out- 
oi-i  he-way  localities,  and  civilization  growing  under  difficulties  of  topographv 

and  climate;  and  form  a  wonderful 
i1]  i|      i    j      contrast  to  the  modern  palaces  and 

huge  hotels  of  Bar  Harbor, 
with  their  fashionable  com- 
panies and  ceaseless  fes- 
tivities. 

The  eastward  voyage  on 
these  great  steamships 
affords  a  very  refresh- 
ing change  from  the 
summer  temperature  of 
Boston  and  the  inland 
and  southern  cities,  and 
removes  one,  in  two  or 
three  hours,  from  the 
torrid  zone  to  the  cool 
air  of  the  ocean,  en- 
riched by  the  intense 
vitality  which  comes 
pulsing  in  from  the  dis- 
tant plains  of  the  outer  Atlantic.  To  leave  behind  the  heated  pavements 
and  walls,  the  mephitic  drainage,  and  the  myriad  noises,  of  the  town,  and 
pass  out  into  these  vast  quiet  spaces  of  the  sea,  with  pure  and  bracing 
air  on  every  side,  fascinating  views,  and  no  care  but  that  relating  to  the 
coming  dinner-hour,  affords  a  change  of  scene  and  of  life,  which,  however 
brief,  is  rich  in  physical  and  mental  benefit;  and  he  must  be  a  very  un- 
reasonable American  who  could  return  from  such  a  voyage  without  feeling 
himself  a  better  man. 


Foster's  Wharf,   Boston. 


KING'S   HANDBOOK   OF  BOSTON  HARBOR.  267 


Utctorta's  Manti  antr  tjje  Belgian  Ikacfjes, 

A   NOTABLE    BOSTON    SHIPPING    AND    COMMISSION    HOUSE.  — THE    WHITE- 
STAR   LINE. —  THE  RED-STAR   LINE.  —  OTHER   PACKET   LINES. 

N  a  long  and  honorable  career,  the  firm  of  C.  L.  Bartlett  & 
Co.,  ship-brokers,  steamship-agents,  and  commission-merchants, 
115  State  Street,  has  won  a  place  among  the  oldest  and  most 
reputable  of  the  Boston  shipping-houses.  It  was  founded  in 
1849  by  Mr.  C.  L.  Bartlett  (whose  rural  mansion  is  spoken  of 
on  p.  116);  and  its  present  head  is  Mr.  Edward  A.  Adams,  who  has  had 
many  years  of  experience  in  dealing  with  ships  and  cargoes  and  seafaring 
men.  This  firm  enjoys  a  large  and  growing  maritime  business,  receiving 
consignments  of  vessels  and  merchandise,  chartering  and  despatching  ves- 
sels, loading  and  discharging  cargoes,  collecting  freights,  making  advances 
on  consignments,  and  in  many  other  ways  facilitating  the  movements  of  the 
great  commercial  mechanism  of  America  and  England.  A  very  prominent 
department  of  their  trade  is  the  purchase  and  shipment  of  goods  on  foreign 
orders,  for  which  their  extensive  American  and  foreign  connections,  and 
their  long  experience  in  the  business,  give  peculiar  advantages. 

Messrs.  C.  L.  Bartlett  &  Co.  are  agents  for  several  important  lines  of 
steamships  and  sailing  packets,  bound  outward  from  the  American  coast  to 
all  parts  of  the  world  ;  and  the  rates  and  accommodations  for  passengers 
and  freight  may  be  ascertained  at  their  office.  Among  their  packet-lines  is 
the  favorite  one  which  runs  between  Boston  and  the  Azores,  that  distant 
oceanic  archipelago  of  perennial  beauty,  of  late  years  so  much  visited. 

The  same  firm  also  holds  the  agency  of  the  Atlas  Mail  Steamship  Line, 
running  from  New  York  to  Jamaica,  Hayti,  Porto  Rico,  Venezuela,  Colom- 
bia, Nicaragua,  and  the  famous  ports  of  the  Spanish  Main  and  South 
Pacific :  the  steamships  to  Havana  and  Mexico ;  and  the  Pacific  Mail 
Steamship  Company  for  California,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Japan,  China, 
New  Zealand,  and  Australia.  Outside  of  their  ship-brokerage  and  commis- 
sion trade,  an  important  branch  of  the  firm's  business  is  in  booking  passen- 
gers and  freight  for  Europe,  by  the  famous  White-Star  and  Red-Star  Lines. 

The  White-Star  Line,  after  ten  years  of  successful  operation,  has  come 
to  be  regarded  as  unsurpassed  in  speed,  safety,  and  comfort.  Their  fleet 
includes  the  Britannic,  Germanic,  Adriatic,  Celtic,  Baltic,  and  Republic,  all 
of  them  magnificent  British-built  vessels,  with  their  luxurious  saloons,  state- 
rooms, smoking-rooms,  etc.,  in  the  centre  of   the   ships,  and  hence   to  a 


268 


KING'S  HANDBOOK  OF  BOSTON  HARBOR. 


remarkable  degree  free  from  motion  and  away  from  the  annoying  vibration 
of  the  screw.  The  passage  has  many  times  been  made  in  less  than  7^ 
days,  and  will  average  about  8  days,  to  Oueenstown.  Notwithstanding  this 
high  and  uniform  rate  of  speed,  safety  is  insured  by  a  careful  following  of 
Lieut.  Maury's  lane  routes,  in  latitudes  free  from  ice  and  fog  ;  by  strict  and 
solicitous  cautionary  orders  to  the  officers  ;  by  perfect  discipline  on  the  part 
of  the  crews ;  and  by  an  ingenious  and  efficient  system  of  water-tight  and 
fire-proof  compartments,  with  self-closing  doors.  The  grand  saloon  of 
these  steamers  is  75  feet  long  and  45  feet  wide,  with  windows  at  the 
sides  ;  and  the  spacious  state-rooms  are  at  either  end  of  the  saloon,  both 
forward  and  amidships,  and  have  electric  bells  and  modern  conveniences. 

The  most  serious   trouble  with   the  White-Star  steamships  is,  that  the 
voyage  is  so  soon  completed  ;  and  as  they  round  into  the   Cove  of  Cork,  or 


A  Steamship  of  the  White-Star  Line. 


run  up  St.  George's  Channel  and  into  the  Mersey,  to  great  Liverpool,  the 
American  traveller  hardly  cares  to  leave  their  delightful  accommodations, 
even  to  seek  the  towers  of  Westminster,  or  the  gray  walls  of  Rome. 

The  Belgian  Royal  Mail  steamers  of  the  Red-Star  Line  began  to  run 
in  1873;  and  their  new  British-built  vessels,  the  Waesland,  Rhynland,  and 
Belgenland,  are  among  the  largest  and  fastest  passenger-boats  on  the  At- 
lantic, with  state-rooms  and  saloons  in  the  centre,  where  the  least  motion  is 
felt,  and  provided  with  all  the  modern  luxuries  of  travel.  One  of  the  seven 
Red-Star  ships  sails  from  New  York  (Jersey  City)  every  Saturday,  and  in  ten 
days  runs  into  the  River  Scheldt,  up  which  she  advances  for  several  hours, 
by  ancient  Flushing  and  the  historic  islands  of  Holland,  until  the  vast  lace- 
like spire  of  Antwerp  Cathedral  closes  the  vista  on  the  east.  This  is  much 
the  best  way  for  travellers  bound  for  the  Continent ;  since  it  lands  them,  after 
a  direct  voyage,  within  a  few  hours'  railway  ride  of  Brussels  and  Paris,  and 
on  the  grand  route  by  Mechlin  and  Cologne  to  Switzerland  and  Italy. 


MACULLAR,    PARKER,   &>    COMPANY. 


XI 


Notctoortlju  Boston  jFtrms* 


MACULLAR,  PARKER,  &  COMPANV.-JOHN  C.  PAIGE.  — HOGG,  BROWN,  &  TAYLOR. 
—  LEWANDO'S  FRENCH   DYE-HOUSE. 


MACULLAR,  PARKER,  & 
COMPANY'S  name  must 
always  be  included  in  a  list  of 
eminent  Boston  firms  ;  for  their 
great  clothing  and  piece-goods 
establishment  at  No.  400  Wash- 
ington Street  is  one  of  the  most 
noteworthy  examples  of  pro- 
gressive and  creditable  industry 
to  be  found  in  any  city*  in 
America.  It  is  only  a  little 
more  than  thirty  years  ago  that 
the  business  was  started  in  a 
very  small  way;  and  yet  to- 
day the  firm  give  employment 
constantly  the  year  round  to 
upwards  of  600  hands,  men 
and  women,  in  one  of  the 
neatest  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments in  the  world,  —  one, 
too,  in  which  all  reasonable 
provision  is  made  for  the  com- 
fort and  health  of  all  the  em- 
ployes. The  magnificent  and 
commodious  building  fronts  on 
two  streets,  —  on  Washington  at 
No.  400,  and  on  Hawley  at  No.  81.  No  adequate  idea  of  its  size  can  be 
had  from  a  view  on  the  street.  Only  by  passing  from  one  end  to  the  other 
on  all  the  seven  floors  can  the  visitor  form  a  correct  impression  of  its 
magnitude  and  attractiveness.  The  floor  surface  alone  amounts  to  70,000 
square  feet,  including  the  space  occupied  for  the  engines,  boilers,  pumps, 
ventilating  apparatus,  and  carpenter's  and  machinist's  shops.  The  building 
is  used  solely  for  the  manufacturing  and  retailing  of  clothing,  and  the  im- 
porting and  jobbing  of  piece-goods.  The  clothing  made  is  sold  at  retail 
only  by  this  firm,  and  in  cut,  style,  trimmings,  finish,  and  goods  ranks  equal 


Macullar,   Parker,   &  Company's  Entrance. 


Xll 


MACULLAR,    PARKER,    &>    COMPANY. 


to  that  made  by  the  leading  merchant-tailors.  No  person  is  likely  ever  to 
enter  into  this  establishment  without  being  able  to  find  a  proper  fit  in 
thoroughly  trustworthy  clothing;  and  every  one  who  patronizes  this  firm 
knows  that  the  "one-price"  system  is  positively  invariable  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. It  is 
the  constant  aim 
of  Macullar, 
Parker,  &  Com- 
pany to  furnish 
the  best  and  most 
satisfactory  gar- 
ments that  can  be 
furnished  for  the 
amount  charged 
for  them.  It  is 
an  inviolable  rule 
of  the  house  to 
satisfy  a  person, 
or  else  not  to  take 
his  patronage. 
No  false  or  mis- 
leading statement 
in  any  particular 
is  ever  allowed  to 
be  made.  People 
who  visit  or  pat- 
ronize this  firm 
are  never  impor- 
tuned to  make 
purchases,  nor  is 
any  one  ever  in- 
veigled into  buy- 
ing things  that 
are  not  wanted  ; 
the  constant  aim 
being  to  find  out 
what  the  people 
want,  and  to  sup- 
ply them  accord- 


Washington-street   Front  of   Maculla 


&   Company 


ingly.  The  custom  department  of  Macullar,  Parker,  &  Company 
constitutes  the  largest  merchant-tailoring  establishment,  and  the  department 
for  the  importing  and  jobbing  of  woollens  and  other  piece-goods  also  forms 
the  foremost  house  in  its  line,  in  New  England. 


JOIIA   C.    PAIGE,    INSURANCE   AGENT. 


JOHN  C.  PAIGE  is  the  leading' fire-insurance  agent  in  Boston,  —  doing 
the  largest  business,  and  representing  the  greatest  amount  of  capital. 
Moreover,  his  offices,  at  20  Kilby  Street,  are  unsurpassed  for  their  elegance, 
convenience,  and  arrangement.  Twelve  years  ago  Mr.  Paige  was  recognized 
by  the  profession  throughout  this  country  as  a  skilful  adjuster  of  fire-losses, 
and  as  an  experienced  general  agent.  Duties  incident  to  the  Great  Fire  of 
1S72  brought  him  to  Boston,  where  he  subsequently  decided  to  establish  a 
local  insurance-agency  in  connection  with  his  general  agency  business;  and 
to-day,  by  reason 
of  his  great  abil- 
ity, varied  experi- 
ence, e  x  t  r  e  m  e 
popularity,  and  in- 
domitable energy, 
he  has  placed 
himself  in  the 
foremost  rank  of 
the  underwriters 
in  the  United 
States.  The  com- 
panies he  repre- 
sents are  the 
"  Imperial  Fire  of 
London,  Eng.," 
"  Northern  Assur- 
ance of  London, 
Eng.,"  "  City  of 
London  Fire  of 
London,  Eng.," 
"Orient  of  Hart- 
ford Conn."  John  C'  Pal°e'  20  Kilby  street 
"  Hoffman  Fire  of  New  York,"  "  Tradesmen's  Fire  of  New  York," 
"  Metropole  of  Paris,  France,"  and  the  "  Reassurances  Generales  of  Paris, 
France."  The  gross  assets  of  these  companies  amount  to  almost  sixty 
million  dollars.  This  agency's  business  extends  throughout  the  United 
States ;  for  Mr.  Paige  is  the  American  general  agent  for  the  City  of  London 
Fire,  the  Metropole,  and  the  Reassurances  Generales  companies.  In  the 
Boston  office  are  upwards  of  fifty  male  and  female  employes.  John  C.  Paige 
personally  is  one  of  those  genial,  whole-souled  men,  with  whom  it  is  always 
a  pleasure  to  do  business.  "  Nothing  mean  about  him,"  never  was  more 
fitly  applied  to  any  man  ;  and  this  characteristic  is  evidenced  by  his  every 
action  in  public  and  private  life. 


XIV 


HOGG,    BROWN,    c5r=    TAYLOR,    DRY   GOODS. 


HOGG,  BROWN,  &  TAYLOR  occupy  the  large  granite  building  on 
the  north-west  corner  of  Washington  Street  and  Temple  Place,  including 
Nos.  477  to  481  Washington  Street,  and  Ncs.  60  to  70  Temple  Place.  The 
building  is  100  by  84  feet.  It  has  on  its  four  floors  and  basement  a  floor 
surface  of  about  an  acre.  It  was  built  in  1863-64,  expressly  for  this  firm. 
Its  plain  and  substantial-looking  exterior  is  an  indication  of  the  reliable  and 
stanch  firm  that  own  and  occupy  the  whole  building.  In  1857  John  Hogg, 
George  B.  Brown,  and  John  Taylor,  under  the  firm  name  of  Hogg,  Brown, 
&  Taylor,  which  has  ever  since  remained  unchanged,  succeeded  to  the 
business  of  Kinmonth  &  Co.,  who  at  that  time  were  everywhere  known  as 


Hogg,   Brown,  &  Taylor,  Corner  of  Washington  Street  and  Temple  Place. 

one  of  the  foremost  dry-goods  houses  in  New  England.  The  present  firm 
have  not  only  maintained  the  reputation  of  their  predecessors,  but  have 
constantly  advanced ;  and  to-day  they  are  known  as  one  of  the  largest  and 
best  houses  in  the  dry-goods  trade  in  this  country.  They  are  wholesale  and 
retail  dealers,  as  well  as  extensive  importers,  of  dry  goods  and  all  articles 
usually  found  in  the  largest  dry-goods  establishments.  A  characteristic 
feature  of  this  firm  is  its  quiet  way  of  transacting  its  business.  Hardly  ever 
is  its  advertisement  seen  :  and  yet  the  spacious  quarters  are  crowded  at  all 
hours  of  the  day ;  for  the  ladies  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity  know  that  they  can 
always  rely  on  Hogg,  Brown,  &  Taylor  for  the  best  and  most  fashionable 
goods  at  equitable  prices.  In  the  building  there  are  about  200  employe's ; 
and,  besides  these,  many  persons  are  employed  elsewhere  for  making  ladies' 
wear.  The  death  of  Mr.  Taylor  in  April,  1875,  and  the  retirement  of  Mr. 
Brown  in  the  following  July,  leaves  the  present  firm  consisting  of  John 
Hogg,  Henry  R.  Beal,  Albert  H.  Higgins,  and  Alexander  Henderson. 


LEWANDO'S   FRENCH   DYE- HOUSE,    BOSTON. 


XV 


LEWANDO'S  FRENCH  DYE-HOUSE  is  rapidly  becoming  one  of 
the  best-known  and  most  useful  establishments  in  Boston.  The  extensive 
works  are  at  Watertown,  Mass.,  on  the  banks  of  the  Charles  River,  and 
constantly  employ  upwards  of  one  hundred  persons.  The  apparatus  in- 
cludes many  odd  pieces  of  machinery  for  operating  the  valuable  processes, 
peculiar  alone  to  this  establishment.  The  chief  work  is  the  dyeing  and 
cleansing  of  every  kind  of  textile  fabric.  The  dyeing  is  in  all  colors  pro- 
duced at  any  dye-house  in  this  country,  and  is  done  on  piece-goods  and 
garments  of  every  size,  shape,  or  quality.  The  cleansing  is  by  an  exclusive 
French  process  known  as  ;'dry  cleansing,"  enabling  this  firm  to  cleanse  all 
fabrics,  dresses,  gentlemen's  clothes,  silks,  gloves,  laces,  ribbons,  curtains, 

feathers,  shawls,  and  all 
similar  goods,  without  in- 
juring or  even  taking  to 
pieces  the  garments.  By 
the  processes  in  use  at 
Lewando's  dye-house,  the 
most  perfect  dyeing  and 
cleansing  can  be  obtained. 
The  managers,  too,  are  most 
enterprising  people,  and 
continually  put  forth  every 
effort  to  satisfy  their  many 
customers.  They  make  it 
easy  for  people  to  patronize 
them  by  having  offices  not 
only  at  Watertown,  and  at 
the  main  office,  17  Temple 
Place,  Boston,  but  also  at 
270  Westminster  Street, 
Providence;  2  Park  Square, 
Lynn,     Mass. ;     and     2206 

Lewando's  Dye-House,   17  Temple  Place.  Washington     Street      High- 

lands, and  33 1 A  Broadway,  South  Boston.  Besides  having  these  several 
offices,  they  send  their  wagons  to  any  address  to  get  and  return  large  or 
small  bundles  of  goods  to  be  cleansed  or  dyed.  A  specialty  is  made  of 
delivering  goods  exactly  at  the  time  promised,  and  of  charging  in  all  cases 
only  the  lowest  equitable  price.  The  greatest  care  is  taken  to  avoid  the 
wrong  delivery  of  goods,  or  the  slightest  damage  to  any  work.  When  there 
is  the  slightest  doubt  of  obtaining  desired  results,  the  patron  is  plainly  told 
so  in  advance.  Goods  are  cleansed  and  dyed  for  people  in  every  State  in 
the  Union ;  and  pamphlets  telling  how  to  send  goods  can  be  had  free  by 
addressing  Lewando's  French  Dye-House,  17  Temple  Place,  Boston. 


xvi  FORBES    CO.,    ALBERTYPES,    LITHOGRAPHS,    ETC. 


ORBES   IMP  GRAPH  fl  CD 

". X=>  i       IUlt  ■     ; Y ^-^TrT 

HOGRAPHERS.      &l-^R^^Jmim^B^f^  DE.ONSH.W 


R£     ST 

~B  a  stq  r\f . 


RAND,   AVERY,    &>    CO.,    PRINTERS. 


XVlll 


STANDARD    RUBBER    CO.,    OF  BOSTON. 


"JL:  Z  ^  ^.^-  ^-M'-  SJ  ^.^.  ^.^.  ^ 


™dard 
Rubber 

~  OMP'RY. 


cJAMLS  S.  Comston 

PREST. 

William  H.Hill  jr. 

TREAS 

A.W.LQUGEE 

AGENT, 


RICHARDSON,    ////./.,    <Sr»    CO.,    BANKERS,    BOSTON.  XIX 


IGMRDSOR 


Si** 


ILIA^O. 


Brokers,  Stockbrokers, 


Of- 


MEMBERS  of  THE 
BOSTON*  NEWYOBK 

Stock  Exch^nces. 


SEEKS .  R.R     ft  /r£irr6m,/w/i/u?£/w//f, 

HENRY  VVDQDD  !\  ' JMIT/MO/&,  fjVASMMTVK 

FRANK  E. JAMES.       M  ^n  WflWP   <Vr    ,      •      •      , 

GEORGE  A.  FARLOW.   ft  40  WAT^  toJ- -lne^JT   : 

»  •:■     t     •;*      *i*     "?•    BOSTON. 


ILSLEY  &*    CO.,   HATTERS  AND   FURRIERS. 


AAAA^AAAAAAAAsAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA^^s^^/ 


HUNTING,  SHOOTING,  BOATING*  TOURISTS'  HATS*CAPS 
CLERICAL  HATS,  OPERA  FOLDING  HATS,  LIVERY  HATS 
*  COCKADES,  4  THEATRICAL  *  FANCY  DRESS  HATS. 
LADIES  RIDING  HATS  ^FELT  HATS  OF  EVERY  COLOR,  *•*» 


%<*•>..-«.•    -    »    *    »    ~  *>   •    ■*    * 


WILLIAMS  &>   EVERETT,    PAINTINGS,    FRAMES,    ETC.      xxi 


Aftr/sr/c  FRjtMzs /r  spjrc/frjirr:  ^ 


vao.isyuaB.ft.  ■ 


XX11  BOSTON  AND   ALBANY   RAILROAD. 

BOSTON  AND  ALBANY 


OFFICE,  232   WASHINGTON   STREET. 


THROUGH    CAR    SERVICE. 


BOSTON  TO  ALBANY  AND  THE  WEST. 

Mail  Train — leaving  Boston  at  5  a.m.,  is  express  to  South  Framingham, 
and  accommodation  thence  to  Albany ;  has  through  coaches  Boston  to 
Albany,  arriving  there  at  1.00  p.m. 

Chicago  Express  —  leaving  Boston  at  8.30  a.m.,  has  through  drawing- 
room  car  from  Boston  to  Syracuse,  N.Y.,  arriving  there  at  7.15  p.m.,  and 
connecting  with  through  sleeping-cars  for  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Cincinnati, 
Toledo,  and  Chicago ;  also  drawing-room  car,  Boston  to  Saratoga. 

First  New -York  Special  —  leaving  Boston  at  11  a.m.,  has  drawing- 
room  cars  to  Springfield,  and  coaches  Springfield  to  Albany,  arriving  there 
at  6  p.m. 

St.  Louis  and  Cincinnati  Express  — leaves  Boston  at  3.00  p.m.,  runs 
express  to  Springfield,  arriving  at  6.00  p.m.,  and  waits  there  30  minutes  to 
give  passengers  time  for  supper.  Has  through  sleeping-car,  Boston  to 
Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Dayton,  and  Cincinnati,  also  Boston  to  Indianapolis  and 
St.  Louis. 

Pacific  Express  —  leaves  Boston  at  6.00  p.m.  Sleeping-car  for  Roch- 
ester, Niagara  Falls,  Detroit,  and  Chicago :  also  sleeping-car  for  Buffalo, 
Cleveland,  Toledo,  and  Chicago.    (Runs  daily.) 


Boston  to  Hartford,  New  Haven,  and  New  York. 

Train  leaving  Boston  at  8.30  a.m.  has  coaches  without  change  from 
Boston  to  New  York,  also  drawing-room  car  to  Springfield,  and  Spring- 
field to  New  York,  arriving  at  4.20  p.m. 

First  New -York  Special  Express  —  leaving  Boston  at  11  a.m.,  has 
coaches  and  drawing-room  car  through  to  New  York  without  change, 
arriving  at  5.45  P.M. 

Second  New -York  Special  Express  —  leaving  Boston  at  4.30  p.m., 
has  coaches  and  drawing-room  cars  through  to  New  York  without  change, 
arriving  at  10.30  p.m.  This  train  is  limited  to  six  cars,  and  is  one  of  the 
fastest  trains  in  the  world. 

Night  Express  —  leaving  Boston  at  10.30  p.m.,  has  sleeping-cars  and 
coaches  through  to  New  York,  arriving  at  6.25  a.m.     (Runs  daily.) 


WM.    BLISS,  E.  GALLUP, 

President  and  General  Manager.  General  Passenger  Agent, 

BOSTON. 


FAU.    RIVER    IJNE,    VIA    OLD    COLONY   RAfl.ROA/).         xxiii 


»#«>     »    »i 


G»»«J         o        »| 


0»0        o        »•■«>       »      »•«        o       0»VE>      o 


O*. 


:w  york 

lOUTH^WESTi 


eJ.F^.K,ENlDRICK,     GEN'L  SUPERINTENDENT. 

Geo, LCoNftoR^GENl pass; AGT.    L.H.P/\L|VIEF\,AGT.  boston. 


I 


XXIV 


JAMES  R.    OSGOOD    &    CO.,   PUBLISHERS. 


JAMES  R.  OSGOOD  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

211     TREMONT     STREET,     BOSTON, 

Publish    Illustrated    and    Standard    Works,    Fine-Art,    Architectural    and 

Technical  Books,  and  Books  in  General  Literature,  Poetry,  Essays, 

Biography,  etc.,  and  the  latest  and  best  works  of 

WILLIAM   D.   HOWELLS,  MARK  TWAIN,  MRS.   F.   H.   BURNETT, 

GEORGE   P.   LATHROP,  WILLIAM  WINTER,  ROSE  TERRY  COOKE, 

JAMES  FREEMAN   CLARKE,        MRS.   C.   E.   CLEMENT,  BLANCHE  W.  HOWARD,  Etc. 


Memorial  History  of  Boston, 
1 630- 1 880. 

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intendent. Four  volumes,  quarto.  About  2,500 
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